Birds of a Feather
by TheForceIsStrongWithThisOne
Summary: The Teen Titans meet the Young Justice. Originally posted a year ago in the Young Justice section. Moved here in case you missed it. Will update daily. BBxRaven, RobStar and others. Chapter 29 is posted. Surprise ending!
1. Chapter 1

This story was previously published in the Young Justice section. I realize that many of you have already read this story when it was originally published, but that was a while ago, so I'm going to repost this story here. It's a Teen Titans/Young Justice crossover, a little heavier on the Titans side of things than Young Justice.

I'll post updates every 3rd day or so, so that they won't come too frequently.

So, ladies and gentlemen, I give you: Birds of a Feather.

_**-(scene break)-**_

"Kid Flash … recognized …" The computerized voice echoed in the cavern. Still dressed in his civvies Kid Flash emerged from the portal, chomping on a slice of pizza while carrying a pizza box in the other. As he licked his fingers Artemis locked eyes with him.

"You're late, and you're out of uniform." She addressed him with a heavy dollop of contempt.

"Want some pizza?" He replied.

The archer rolled her eyes and began to leave.

"I wouldn't keep Batman waiting if I was you."

Wally dropped his pizza box, which hit the floor with a dull thud.

"You mean we have a mission?"

"Duh!"

Wally bent over and picked up the box.

"So where are we going?" He asked as he zoomed to catch up with the perpetually angry girl.

"I'm not sure. All I heard was that we're going off world."

"You mean like to Mars?"

She sighed impatiently.

"I would know more if Batman hadn't sent me off to find you. You're such a goofball Wally, why can't you take your job more seriously; I know you're not stupid. We're members of the Justice League. It's an honor and privilege to be a member of this group. Do you know how many other sidekicks would kill for a spot on this team?"

Wally consumed the last slice of pizza and tossed the empty box into a trash can.

"Just how much do you eat?" She asked in a cross voice. "You're always eating."

"I need my energy."

"Maybe if you thought more before you acted, you wouldn't need so much energy."

Before Wally could reply they reached the room where Batman and the rest of the team were waiting. Batman stood in the middle, his stoic face did not betray any emotion, yet Wally could tell he was annoyed.

"Thank you for joining us Mr. West." The Dark Knight acknowledged his presence in a terse monotone.

"Sorry I'm late … sir … I mean Batman."

Batman ignored Wally's apology and turned to a console, where he tapped a few keystrokes. A hologram of an alien world appeared above them. It looked foreboding and desolate.

"This is Epsilon Eridani 4. It's 10 light years away from Earth. A consular ship from the Rigellian system has crashed there and they have requested our help in rescuing any survivors. Unfortunately no one is available right now from the Justice League so you will have to do."

"Thanks for the vote of confidence." Connor Kent mumbled sotto voce.

Batman turned towards him.

"If you focused more on your training, you would be able to perform this mission by yourself Superboy. Regardless, this will be a good training mission for all of you."

"How will we get there Batman?" Aqualad asked.

"You will travel on M'gann's ship through a jump portal. You should arrive there almost instantly. That will be the easy part of your mission. Epsilon Eridani 4 is a hostile world. The atmosphere is barely fit for humans and most of the planet's surface is a thick jungle teeming with deadly predators. You will leave immediately, or at least once Kid Flash has changed into his costume."

Wally shot out of the room and was back in a split second, now donning his superhero costume.

"Thank you Mr. West." He acknowledged Wally before addressing the rest of the team.

"Remember your training. Your most valuable power resides between your ears, so use it. Don't take any excessive risks, if you can't rescue them, pull out and return. Good luck."

_**-(scene break)-**_

Megan made herself comfortable in the pilot's seat on her spaceship as she completed the preflight checklist. She then plotted a course to the jump portal, which was located 1,500,000 km from Earth at the L2 LaGrange point, sitting motionlessly while following the Earth around the sun.

"The jump portal is preprogrammed for us." She announced to her crew and teammates. "We should reach the portal 56 minutes after breaking Earth orbit."

The alien spaceship lifted off and began its steep climb into the ionosphere. Wally watched in glee as the ship rose higher and higher, and rattled off all sorts of technical and scientific jargon to Artemis, who for some reason wound up sitting next to him. She rolled her eyes, regretting her seat choice.

"Do you know what a LaGrange L2 point is?" He asked her.

"No, but somehow I know you're going to tell me."

Ignoring her snide remark, he continued.

"The Lagrangian points are the five positions in an orbital configuration where a small object affected only by gravity can theoretically be stationary relative to two larger objects. L2 is the point that 1,500,000 km past earth that forms a straight line through the Earth and the Sun."

"Sounds thrilling." She remarked dryly.

Robin and Aqualad chuckled their amusement while Connor was his usual taciturn self. Megan smiled at him and invited him to sit with her at the pilot's seat. He declined.

30 minutes later a loud beep was heard on the pilot's console in the Martian ship. Megan pressed a button and Batman's voice was heard over the loudspeaker.

"I have bad news. A solar flare up occurred and the ionic storm should be reaching you before you arrive at the jump portal. We believe this one will be abnormally powerful."

Megan tapped a few buttons on her console.

"We should be OK Batman. The shields on the ship should keep us safe from any radiation. We can proceed with the mission."

"Are you sure Megan?" The Dark Knight asked.

Miss Martian muted the mike.

"What do you guys think? Do you want to turn back? We should be able to reach the protection of Earth's magnetic field before the solar storm reaches us."

"Go back? No way!" Robin replied as Kid Flash agreed with him.

"We will be in any danger if we continue?" Artemis asked.

"We should be fine, I can hurry up and try to beat the storm to the portal, but it will be close. Connor, what do you think?"

"I don't care. If anything, the storm should make me stronger."

"Aqualad?" She asked. "You're the team leader. What do you say?"

"Those Rigellians are counting on us. I say we proceed forward as planned."

_**-(scene break)-**_

Megan had quite literally "put the pedal to the metal" and the jump portal was now visible, albeit as a faint dot, in the distance.

"So, are we gonna beat the storm?" Robin asked.

Before Megan could answer the ships shields began to crackle with ionic energy as tendrils of power began to dance across the ship's protective shields. She checked her console and smiled.

"Shields are holding fine. Only a minute amount of radiation is leaking through, but at safe levels. We'll be making the jump in three minutes." She announced.

The 6 teen heroes watched as the distant dot grew larger as they approached. Soon they were able to discern the huge ring with their naked eyes, and it continued to grow.

"30 seconds." Megan announced as the tendrils of energy grew bigger and brighter as they continued to dance across the ships shields, which continued to hold.

"15 seconds." She announced as the portal slowly came to life. At first several beacon lights on the ring, which was 1 km in diameter, began to flash.

"5 seconds."

The area inside of the ring turned blue in color and rippled as if it were liquid.

"Prepare for the jump, it might get a little bumpy."

The ship passed through the blue barrier.

And all hell broke loose as the ship began to tumble violently inside of the artificial wormhole.

"Megan! What's happening?" Aqualad shouted over the din of blaring alarms.

"I'm not sure." She replied. "I think that the shield was excessively ionized … I've lost all helm control … wait … its coming back … sort of."

The ship stopped tumbling and regained its composure.

"Sort of?" Robin asked. "What's that supposed to mean?"

"Some of the engines are offline." She replied in a worried tone. "I've never seen anything like this before. The ship's pretty much been crippled. What do we do?"

Aqualad stared out into the wormhole as he pondered their next move.

"If the ship is crippled we should return home. If we crash land on Eridani 3 we won't be able to help the Rigellians. We should return home, repair the ship and resume the mission after repairs are completed. Megan, can you turn the ship around in the wormhole?"

"I think I can, but I'm not sure how we're going to land, at least without crashing."

"At least on Earth we won't be stranded. Turn the ship around."

The young Martian slowed the ship down to a halt inside the wormhole and carefully turned it around. Then using the ships single working thruster she got it moving again. Within a few minutes they were ready to exit through the Earth side portal.

"The shields are still up, so we should be OK with the storm." She announced.

As the small ship exited the artificial wormhole it lurched forward, shooting out of the portal like a champagne cork.

"Megan! What's wrong now?" Aqualad called out to her.

"I don't know but we're going really fast and straight towards Earth, something blasted us out of the portal, some kind of energy surge…"

"Speaking of energy, what happened to the solar storm?" Wally asked. "The shields are still working, right?"

Megan nodded, but was still alarmed as the struggled to slow the ship down.

"The storm's gone, but we're going to crash land on Earth."

"Where?" Connor asked.

"On the west coast, California to be precise."

"Can you avoid the metropolitan areas?"

Megan nodded. "I'll plot a course for the central coast. We shouldn't cause too much collateral damage if we crash land there."

"Are we gonna make it?" Wally asked.

"I think I can get us down. It won't be pretty though."

Megan began to broadcast a mayday signal as her ship entered the atmosphere in what was for all purposes a free fall. The shields continued to hold as the ship plummeted through the atmosphere, leaving a dark trail behind it. The ship brusquely decelerated as the friction of the atmosphere began to slow it down. Soon they were low enough to fly normally, which they would have had the ship not been crippled. It was then that the female Martian made an unexpected discovery.

"Kaldur! There's a city up ahead!"

"What do you mean 'a city'? What kind of city?"

"A big city! It shouldn't be there!"

"Are you sure we didn't go off course?" Aqualad replied.

"I'm positive! We're north of Los Angeles but south of the Bay Area. This city shouldn't be here!"

Megan struggled with the controls, coaxing the disabled ship to obey her commands.

"We're headed straight for the city!" She shrieked as the ship shot past a strange T shaped tower.

"There's a large park up ahead, I'm going to try to land there!"

The alien vessel hit the ground and began to roll, tearing up trees and any other vegetation that stood in its path, sliding hundreds of yards until it came to a halt, leaving a deep trench in its wake. The wreckage sat silently, the only sound being that of fire engines in the distance.

_**-(scene break)-**_

A two on two basketball game was being played on roof of the T shaped tower that stood on the island in the middle of the bay. One team consisted of a bionic man and green skinned male teenager. The other team was an orange skinned alien and a masked boy who wore a cape. The game was lively and the two teams exchanged friendly trash talk as the score was tied. Nearby, a gray skinned girl sat in the lotus position, levitating while she read a book that looked so old that a mere sneeze would disintegrate it.

"C'mon Raven! You never play with us!" The green lad complained.

"Yes Raven, come basket the ball with us! It is most stimulating!" The alien girl added.

Raven rolled her eyes.

"We all remember what happened the last time I played basketball with you."

"It's OK Raven, I've got whole box full of balls this time. It won't matter if you pop one this time."

The gray sorceress was about to tell her friends that she wasn't interested when they all heard a sonic boom. Looking up they all saw the alien looking vessel streak by the tower, plunging into the heart of the city. Seconds later they heard a loud crash. Robin tossed the basketball back into to box with the dozen spare balls.

They had been a team for a few years and knew their roles well, well enough to not need any instruction from their fearless leader. Nevertheless, he followed their time honored tradition and shouted the famous words:

"Titans go!"

_**-(scene break)-**_

The crash site was a scene of mayhem as the 5 local superheroes arrived. Park goers, who had all miraculously escaped injury, were fleeing the park anyway they could. The emergency response units had yet to arrive and the area around the crashed spaceship was blazing in flames. The Titans approached the ship through the deep trench that the ship had left in its path. They got as close as they could before being repelled by the searing heat. Robin reached into his belt and with a perfect arc motion of his arm launched 4 disks at the ship. They exploded, releasing their freezing action, which partially subdued the flames.

Meanwhile Raven became airborne. Using her dark energy she formed a huge shovel, and began to smother the burning ship with dirt. In less than a minute the flames had been subdued.

"We're clear! There's no radiation!" Cyborg shouted just before he, Starfire and Beast Boy ran to the ship. Using her mighty hands the Tamaranian dug her fingers into the ship's hatch and ripped it free. Beast Boy charged into the ship, ready to rescue any survivors of the horrific crash. He emerged from the ship, carrying Kid Flash's alive but unconscious form.

"What's Wally doing in that ship?" Raven asked in her monotone. "I spoke with Jinx an hour ago; they're supposed to be in Central City."

The changeling looked astounded.

"Something weird is going on. They're all alive. I don't recognize most of them, but there's a teenage version of Superman in there and … Rob … you'd better go see for yourself … you'll never believe me if I tell you."

The Boy Wonder dashed into the ship. As Beast Boy had said he didn't recognize the first few passengers. One was a green skinned girl who was seated at what appeared to be the pilot's seat. Another girl was dressed in an archer's outfit and the Kryptonian was also there, with the familiar S shaped logo printed on his black T-shirt. It was then than Robin saw him, and he gasped.

"What the hell is going on?" He muttered.

_**-(scene break)-**_

The Titans stared at the 6 strangers who were resting in the Tower's infirmary. Raven had contacted Jinx since their return and Kid Flash had arrived moments before.

"Dude he looks just like you!" Beast Boy remarked.

"He is him, and that kid, even though he's younger, he's Robin."

"Are you sure Cyborg?" The local Boy Wonder replied.

"DNA tests don't lie, man."

Robin sighed.

"This had better not be one of Larry's pranks, or so help me I'll …"

Superboy leaped out of his bed, his eyes were betraying the confusion he was feeling.

"Stay away from me!" He shouted.

"Friend do not be concerned, we only wish to help you." Starfire attempted to reassure him. His response was to throw a haymaker at her, which she blocked with her forearm.

"You're strong!" He growled at her.

"As are you. Please believe me, we wish you no harm. Your spaceship crashed and we rescued you and your friends."

Conner recalled the crash and dropped out of his fighting stance into a more relaxed pose.

"Who are you?" A familiar voice called out to him. The Kryptonian clone turned to its source.

"Robin! You're OK!" He shouted before doing a double take. "You're not Robin! Who are you?"

"I asked you first. But you're right, I am Robin. I'm just not your Robin. Now will you please tell me who you are? And what's with the symbol on your chest? You're not Superman and you certainly aren't Supergirl."

Connor then saw the boy he recognized as Robin.

"Just relax man; your friends are fine, just shaken up from the crash. Now why don't you tell us who you all are?" Cyborg interjected.

Connor looked around the sickbay and saw that his teammates were all resting peacefully. He took a closer look at his alleged rescuers. There was something familiar yet different about some of them. He pointed at Beast Boy.

"Are you a Martian?"

"No dude, I'm a changeling."

Connor frowned as he turned to Cyborg.

"I recognize you. You're from Metropolis. Superman told me about you."

"I don't know what to say man, but I haven't lived in Metropolis for years."

Connor continued to take in his surroundings. He saw a violet haired girl with a blue cape and … Kid Flash?

"Let me guess, you're not my Kid Flash?"

Before Wally could reply the remaining members of the Young Justice Team slowly began to wake up. Aqualad was the first to sit up, followed by Miss Martian, then Kid Flash and Artemis. Robin was the last to get up.

Artemis was the first to notice that there were two copies of Kid Flash.

"OK, now I know I died and got sent to hell."

"What's her problem?" Titan Wally asked his counterpart.

"You don't have one like her?" Kid Flash replied.

"In a way I do."

Local Robin crossed his arms and addressed the strangers.

"OK, this is obviously confusing for everyone, so we're going to take the first step."

The 6 strangers stared at him in anticipation.

"This had better be good." Artemis growled.

"I'm Robin and these are Starfire, Cyborg, Raven and Beast Boy. We're the Teen Titans and we're the protectors of Jump City. He's Kid Flash. He lives in Central City and is an honorary Teen Titan."

Aqualad stood up.

"My name is Kaldur'ahm, but I am also known as Aqualad…"

"Dude, we also have an Aqualad, but he doesn't look like you."

Robin raised his hand.

"Never mind that Beast Boy … please continue Aqualad."

"Thank you … Robin. These are my teammates: Miss Martian, Artemis, Kid Flash, Superboy and … Robin. We are the Young Justice League."

"We welcome you to our city friends." Starfire began. "But tell us, from where did you come? We are familiar with the Robin and the Kid Flash, but the rest of you are strange to us …"

Raven stood at the back of the room, carefully studying the strangers with her empathic powers. As far as she could tell none of them were being deceptive. Suddenly she felt a presence in her mind.

_Who are you? Identify yourself!_

Raven didn't need to wait for Miss Martian to come clean. She was able to sense it. Raven locked eyes with her.

_**I'm sorry; I was just reading your minds to see if you were telling us the truth.**_

Raven approached the green girl.

"Miss Martian, why don't you tell us what you read in my teammate's minds?"

Megan blushed.

"I'm sorry, I know it's considered rude to read minds on Earth, but … well, I needed to know if you were telling us the truth."

"And what is your verdict?" Raven asked in her gravelly monotone. "Are we friend or foe?"

"Friend." Megan announced as she turned to the other Titans. "Please forgive me for violating your privacy. And please believe me that we are also friends."

"I know. I'm an empath and while you are all very concerned and confused at this time, I did not sense any malice in your emotions."

She then pointed at Superboy. "You, however, are full of anger."

"Tell us something we don't know." Artemis sneered.

"Where are you from Aqualad?" Robin asked again.

"I know that this will make no sense, but we are from Earth."

"From another Earth." The YJ Kid Flash replied. "The question is, how did we get here?"

"And do we get home?" Aqualad added.

_**-(scene break)-**_


	2. The Teams Meet

My advice to all readers: If you read a chapter (from any story, not just mine) and liked it, leave a review. I always do my best follow this advice.

And don't worry if you feel you don't have anything profound to say. Just tell the writer about one thing you really liked about the chapter.

Also, a note: In order to simplify the distinction between duplicate heroes, I will occasionally prefix their names with TT or YJ. Thus The Titans Robin would be TT-Robin, and the Young Justice Kid Flash would be YJ-Kid Flash. If it's obvious which is which I will omit the prefix.

_**-(scene break)-**_

"And how do we get home?" Aqualad added.

The infirmary fell silent as no one knew the answer. The Atlantean first made eye contact with his team members. Megan and Wally looked lost in thought as they wracked their brains, searching for a scientific explanation to what had happened. Connor sported an expression that was a mix of annoyance and impatience. Artemis looked nervous, her body language betrayed that she didn't really trust the self proclaimed Teen Titans, while Robin couldn't take his eyes off of his older double.

Kaldur'ahm then studied the Titans, starting with Robin. Beside the immediately visible difference in costume colors and hairstyle, he immediately discerned the difference in demeanor in the older Boy Wonder. He lacked the cocky, smart aleck nature of his younger twin and in some ways reminded Kaldur of himself: serious and no nonsense. He then noticed that the Tamaranian had her arm hooked into Robin's arm. She was a mystery to him. He had never heard of Tamaranians before and there was no superhero in their reality named Starfire (A/N: With my luck the missing Titans will have cameos in future episodes of YJ!). Kaldur had noticed earlier how the orange girl had been able to parry Connor's punch, which was no small feat; he could only wonder what other powers the girl had. Then there was the bionic Titan, who bore a striking resemblance to the lad in Metropolis. And there was the green changeling, who reminded him of Wally and while he couldn't place it the purple costume the small teenager wore looked somewhat familiar. The changeling was standing next to the strange, enigmatic gray girl with the violet hair. While she was not touching the green boy, Kaldur noticed something about their body language as they stood side by side, which hinted at something that wasn't visible from the surface.

But what unnerved him the most was the second Kid Flash. He was unable to tell the two apart.

"Shouldn't we first find out where your home is?" Raven asked.

Kaldur nodded.

"You are quite correct Miss Raven."

"Just call me Raven." She replied in her gravely monotone, her face expressionless.

Kid Flash leaned towards Artemis and whispered in her ear.

"Is it me, or is she like the creepiest girl in the world?"

"Not half as creepy as you are." She whispered back.

Aqualad paused as he deliberated his next words.

"Robin, perhaps we should enlist the help of your mentors to solve this problem."

"Mentors?" Cyborg asked with a hint of amusement in his voice.

"Where is your supervisor?" Artemis asked. "Who trains you and dispatches you on missions?"

"Uh, we do. And we don't have anyone to boss us around." Beast Boy replied before realizing where the question came from. He then giggled.

"Dudes, you mean you have a babysitter back at home? That totally blows!"

Raven elbowed the green Titan and gave him a glare that lowered the room's temperature by at least 20 degrees, which curiously didn't seem to have much of an effect on him.

"Please forgive Beast Boy's rudeness. Sometimes I think he was raised in a barn, which isn't surprising as he prefers animals over people." Raven droned.

The changeling pretended to pull a dagger out of his side while Raven pretended to not notice. Kaldur on the other hand was unable to conceal his surprise.

"You are serious? You operate without supervision? Robin, what about Batman?"

Robin stiffened as he replied.

"Batman and I parted ways just before I came to Jump City. The Teen Titans aren't sidekicks Aqualad …"

"And neither are we!" Connor bellowed.

"Yeah right, that's why when Batman says jump, we say 'how high?'." Kid Flash replied.

TT-Robin sensed the tension building in the air, and quickly moved to diffuse it by redirecting the conversation.

"Aqualad, when you were unconscious I called for our Aqualad to come, since I recognized that you're an Atlantean. He should be able to get you in touch with Aquaman…"

"And through him the Justice League … that should be helpful Robin, thank you."

Kaldur was interrupted by a sing song chime that came out of Cyborg's arm. The tin man tapped on his forearm and a panel popped up, which he studied for a moment.

"The Titans East T-Ship should be here in 20 minutes. But I have good news! The pizzas I ordered just arrived."

"Did he say pizza?" YJ-Wally exclaimed as Artemis huffed and rolled her eyes.

"This way, ya'll. I ordered extras cuz I figured you guys would be hungry when you woke up."

Cyborg led the group out of the infirmary to the common room.

"Titans East?" Megan asked.

"Yeah, they're a sister team based in Steele City." Beast Boy replied.

"And which heroes are they?" Artemis asked.

"The Titans East are friends Bumblebee, Mas y Menos, Aqualad and Speedy."

The six YJs stopped dead in their tracks and stared at each other.

"Did you say Speedy?" YJ-Robin asked.

_**-(scene break)-**_

If there was one thing the two groups of superheroes had in common was their love for pizza and soda pop. The Italian pies quickly disappeared as the ravenous teens wolfed down the cheesy wedges. It wasn't until towards the end of the meal that Artemis noticed that Starfire was slathering her pizza … with mustard. The archer turned to Raven, ready to ask her what the Tamaranian was doing, but the empath beat her to the punch.

"You don't want to know." Raven warned her in a voice devoid of all emotion, which made the blond girl's skin crawl and causing her to reconsider Kid Flash's assessment of the gray Titan.

Once lunch was over the two groups began to engage in some small talk and the non common members introduced themselves to each other. The YJ males were naturally drawn to Starfire and openly expressed their disappointment when they confirmed that Robin was her boyfriend. Artemis and Megan sat next to Raven, who was sipping on a cup of herbal tea, and the female Martian committed her first faux pas.

"Raven, is Beast Boy your boyfriend?"

The grey sorceress spewed her tea before turning to glare at the green alien.

"Do. Not. Even. Joke. About. That." Was her only reply. Megan noticed that Artemis, who was standing behind Raven, smirked at Raven's denial.

After a few minutes both groups began to relax and even began to banter a bit, until the sliding doors opened, revealing three figures. The first they recognized: Speedy. The other two were a dark haired Atlantean male and a pink haired girl.

Kaldur smiled as he recognized the Atlantean and stood up to greet him.

"Garth! It's so good to see a familiar face!"

Much to Kaldur's surprise Garth froze, as if he had been shot with a stun gun. The two Atlanteans locked eyes. Kaldur approached his friend, who now had a look of horror and disbelief plastered on his face. Garth stepped back, keeping his distance from Kaldur.

"Garth, my friend, what's wrong?"

"Who are you?" Garth stammered.

Kaldur gestured with his hands, trying to reassure his friend.

"Garth, it's me, Kaldur'ahm."

Garth shook his head.

"No, it's impossible!"

"Garth, what are you talking about?"

Garth's expression soured.

"I don't know who you are or what your game is, but you're not Kaldur'ahm!"

"Of course I am! Why are you saying this?" he replied in exasperation.

"Because Kaldur'ahm, my best friend, is dead."

TT-Robin approached Garth and wrapping an arm over his shoulder he led him away. Whispers were heard as Robin explained to the Atlantean he knew as Aqualad about who the strangers were. Garth looked over his shoulder more than once at Kaldur, the disbelief still evident on his face. Finally after a few minutes his expression softened and he addressed the other Aqualad.

"Forgive me for my rudeness."

"It is understandable. Tell me, what happened to my counterpart?"

Garth ran his fingers through his hair and sighed before answering.

"It was Trident, he ambushed you, just days after the King announced you to be Aqualad. Your death was cruel and painful. The king then named me Aqualad and I met the Titans just a few days later. We defeated Trident together."

"I am sorry to hear of this, both for what happened to my counterpart and for the pain you endured later."

Garth nodded, wiping away a single tear.

"I would like to visit Atlantis and speak with Aquaman. I wish to contact the Justice League."

"Yes, Robin explained your situation to me…"

"We don't need the Justice League's help. I'll bet that if I examine your ship we can figure out which dimension y'all came from." Cyborg interrupted.

"And once we know that then either The Herald or I can open a portal to get you home." Raven added.

Kaldur smiled gratefully.

"Your offer of assistance is appreciated. However, I would still like to contact Aquaman."

_**-(scene break)-**_

The sound of dripping water echoed throughout the cavern, its repetitive sound resonated like a metronome. In the middle of the cave a dark, caped figure brooded over a console that was connected to a large screen which displayed a mathematical model of the jump gate and the worm hole it was connected to. Another figure, dressed in blue with a red cape silently glided in and landed next to the console's operator.

"Any luck finding out where they ended up?" Superman asked.

Batman frowned.

"The only thing we know is that they turned around in the wormhole. The ionization on the ship's shields momentarily fractured the wormhole."

"Which means?"

Batman tapped a few keys on the console and a plethora of vectors exiting the jump portal appeared, so many that they appeared to be almost infinite in number.

"Each of these vectors leads to a parallel universe, the one they ended up in is determined by the exact moment they exited the wormhole…"

"… so we have no idea where they ended up?" Superman completed the sentence.

Batman shutdown the display and turned to face his Kryptonian friend.

"That's correct. We can't help them, if they're going to get back, they'll have to do it on their own."

_**-(scene break)-**_

The downtown park in Jump City remained closed to the public as the local authorities assessed the damage caused by the alien space ship crash. There was a trench that it dug when it crashed that was almost half a mile long. Fortunately the only structure that had been destroyed by the crash was the building where the park maintenance equipment was kept, which was fortunately unoccupied at the time due to it being the weekend.

Police and firefighters milled around the crash site, looking for any debris that might have been left behind after the Titans had taken the ship's wreckage back to the tower. It was now twilight and the police did not see the lone figure who crossed the ubiquitous yellow tape and who began to search through the demolished remains of the brick maintenance building. With the stealth of a cat he moved through the rubble, silently sifting through the detritus as if knowing what he was looking for.

He heard a police officer approach and crouched down, hiding between the rubble. A flash light beam shined past his hiding spot.

"What is it Derek?" Another officer called out.

Policeman with the flashlight gave the area a final scan before startling a large raccoon, which took off and ran into the safety of some bushes.

"Nothing, it's just a stupid raccoon." He replied before walking away.

Once the officers retreated the mysterious man resumed his search and he was soon rewarded. The glimmering piece of the spaceship, no larger than a pencil, shimmered with an unnatural glow in the moonlight. The man picked up his prize with a pair of tweezers and dropped it into a lead lined bag. As he turned to leave the moon briefly illuminated his face, which except for single eye was hidden entirely behind a metal mask.

_**-(scene break)-**_

Kaldur smiled gratefully.

"Your offer of assistance is appreciated. However, I would still like to contact Aquaman."

TT-Robin nodded.

"I understand. We'll still do our best to help get you guys back home where you belong."

Kaldur then turned his attention to Speedy and the pink haired girl who had cat like irises in her eyes.

"Something tells me that you guys already know me." Speedy volunteered.

"We do. You quit the team and I replaced you." Artemis interjected.

Speedy eyed the strangers. He thought the green girl was kind of cute and winked at her. That was when the boy with the Superman T-Shirt drew close to her and gave the archer a "hands off" look. He then noticed the redundant Robin and Wally before refocusing on the female archer.

"I can't say I ever met you before, but I like your choice of weapon."

_**-(scene break)-**_

An hour had passed since the two Aqualads had departed for Atlantis and the mood had settled down in the common room. Most of the men, except for Connor, had gathered around the GameStation and were engaged in lively game of the latest version of Mega Monkeys, while the females had commandeered the kitchen table. The topic of course, was boys. Starfire and Jinx were peppered by Megan will all kinds of questions about their boyfriends, some personal enough to make the two girls blush. (Hello! Megan!)

Raven and Artemis were positively bored out of their skulls and after a few minutes the archeress nodded to Raven, gesturing the sorceress to follow her. Raven arced an eyebrow, wondering what the blond was up to, but quickly decided that whatever it was it couldn't be worse than listening to Starfire gush about 'boyfriend Robin'. At least Jinx had some dignity and didn't prattle like a teeny-bopper about her beau.

Artemis led Raven into the kitchen, and once she was confident they were out of earshot addressed the gray Titan.

"What are they like?" She asked.

"Who?" Raven replied.

Artemis rolled her eyes.

"Wally and Jinx! Who else?"

Raven shrugged her shoulders while she began to brew some more herbal tea.

"What is there to say? They seem to get along fairly well. Would you like some tea?"

"No thanks. Are you serious? She actually likes him?"

Raven poured herself a mug from the teapot and blew across it before taking a sip. She sighed contentedly before taking a second sip.

"While Wally can at times be immature he does have a few redeeming qualities. Jinx used to be a villain and he won her over. She's been an honorary Titan ever since."

Artemis shook her head.

"I don't get it. Why is her Wally so suave and why is my Wally a jerk?"

"Your Wally?" Raven deadpanned. "To be honest, they don't seem all that different to me."

Artemis frowned at Raven, angry that she had unintentionally tipped her hand.

"Don't tell anyone. If you do, I'll tell everyone about Beast Boy."

Raven took another sip of her tea.

"No one will believe you."

"Ah! So now you're not denying it!"

"There's nothing to deny." Raven deadpanned.

"Oh, I've seen you watch him. You think you're hiding it, but it's as plain as that chakra stone on your face."

Raven remained unperturbed.

"If you wish to wallow in your delusion, by all means, be my guest. If it gives you comfort to project your …"

"Bullsh …"

Artemis's expletive was bleeped out by the Tower's alarms. Raven put her mug down on the counter and said a single word.

"Trouble."

_**-(scene break)-**_

And that's chapter 2!


	3. Side by side

Now on to chapter 3

_**-(scene break)-**_

Artemis's expletive was bleeped out by the Tower's alarms. Raven put her mug down on the counter and said a single word.

"Trouble."

TT-Robin was already at the operations' console, typing away furiously. A map of the city appeared on the giant TV screen, and a single marker flashed repeatedly on the map, highlighting the location of the crime scene.

"Figures! It's the day after the big gold shipment arrived at Jump City National Bank." Cyborg grumbled. "100 million dollars worth of the precious. So who are we up against? Mumbo? Johnny Rancid? Control Freak? Cinderblock?"

"Yes" The Boy Wonder replied. "Plus Plasmus and Overload!"

"Dude! That's a lot bad guys!"

"Ya think?" Raven growled at the changeling.

"Beast Boy's right, we're gonna need some help." Robin replied before turning to the YJ's. "We really could use a hand. Are you guys up to it?"

The 5 five stranded heroes huddled together.

"What do you guys think?" YJ-Robin asked.

"I suppose they could use our help." Miss Martian replied first.

"I kinda like the idea." Kid Flash added. "We would be flying solo for the first time."

"Not really, this is the Titans' town, we'd be their sidekicks." Artemis added.

"It's none of our business." Superboy interjected. "We should be focusing on getting home, not getting involved with the locals."

Megan gave Connor a look that was mixture of disappointment and persuasion before answering him.

"But they're our new friends."

"I wouldn't go that far." Artemis added.

"Do we really want to sit on our butts and do nothing? Aren't we always complaining about being on a leash? And besides, don't we want to show the Titans what we're made of?" Robin cajoled his team.

The others nodded their heads in agreement, except for Superboy, who found that it was uncomfortable being the odd man out.

"OK, fine, I'm in." Connor grumbled.

Robin broke away from the huddle and addressed his older twin.

"We're in!"

The elder Boy Wonder acknowledged his twin with a nod.

"Great! I know with your help we can take these guys down. Are you familiar with any of these villains?"

"Can't say I've ever heard of any of them." Artemis commented and her teammates agreed.

"Let's pair up one member from each team. Each pair will be assigned a villain. Your Titan partner will brief you on your target while we go there … let's see…"

"Raven, you and Miss Martian can take Plasmus. Beast Boy, you pair up with their Robin, Control Freak's your target."

The changeling gave his leader a mock salute.

"Cyborg, you and Superboy tackle Johnny Rancid and whatever mechanical monsters he has today. Jinx, you and Artemis have Overload, and the two Kid Flashes, Mumbo's your villain. Starfire and I will go after Cinderblock. Speedy, you're the odd man out, so pick a team."

"I'll join Jinx and Artemis."

"Those who need transportation follow me." Cyborg added. "I can take four in the T-Car."

"They have a car. Why don't we have a car back home?" Kid Flash moaned.

"Because none of us has a driver's license, and why do you need a car? You can run faster than any car." Connor replied as he, Artemis and Jinx followed Cyborg to the garage.

"Cars come in handy on dates." YJ-Wally replied.

"Don't you need a date first?" YJ-Robin teased him as he followed Beast Boy to the roof, along with Raven , Megan, Starfire and the older Robin.

_**-(scene break)-**_

The flying contingent was the first to arrive at the large plaza which was flanked by the huge granite clad building that housed the bank. It windows were shattered and a large hole, large enough to fit a bus, adorned its façade. The police were entrenched as they battled the villains in front of the bank, all of which were present except for Cinderblock.

Plasmus was picking up police cars and throwing them like tennis balls while Overload was drawing energy from nearby power lines and conjuring an electrical storm in the process. Johnny Rancid was guarding the entrance that Cinderblock had punched into the wall and the sounds of mechanical legs could be heard echoing. Control Freak used his super powered clicker to bring several bronze statues which lined the building to life and Mumbo used his stage magic to sow confusion on the battle scene.

The two Kid Flashes were the first to engage their opponent. Mumbo was somewhat unfamiliar with the hypersonic Titan and found himself doubly perplexed as he engaged the two yellow blurs that spun around him.

"This guy's a lightweight, I can tell." The visiting Wally snickered.

"Don't underestimate him; he always has a new trick up his sleeve." TT-Wally replied.

As if on cue Mumbo chanted his signature magic words "Mumbo Jumbo" and a huge streamer shot out of his wand and tangled up both of the yellow clad speedsters, who tripped and fell to the ground as the ribbons tightened their grip on them. Mumbo stepped up to their prone forms with a smug look on his blue face.

"That was too easy." He crowed. "But I will admit that's a good trick, replicating yourself. If you tell me how you did it I might even set you free."

The blue trickster ducked as a bird-a-rang buzzed past him.

"You'll have to do better than that … Robin?" He stopped mid sentence as he stared at the two Robins, who unlike the boys he had just captured were not identical. It was then that he felt a tap on his shoulder. He turned around in time to see the two Kid Flashes, who had vibrated their way out of the traps they were caught in. In a mirror like motion they both punched Mumbo in the face, knocking him out cold.

"Well done Wally." One of the boys congratulated his twin, feigning a bad English accent.

"Why thank you Wally, old chap. We make a smashing good team, wouldn't you agree?"

Meanwhile Raven and Megan were circling Plasmus, flying around the purple ooze villain.

"He smells like a sewer!" Megan complained.

"That he does." Raven replied in her monotone. "Remember, if he becomes unconscious he'll revert to his human form. Also, whatever you do, don't let him…"

Plasmus fired a torrent of his vile fluids at Megan and hit her square in the chest, engulfing her as she fell back.

"… slime you." Raven completed her sentence.

The Martian's eyes glowed with anger.

"Eww! Gross! You're going to take a nap!" The alien howled as she gestured with her arms.

Raven watched Plasmus totter as Megan's mental powers began to assault him. The slimy giant then began to stagger like a drunkard before losing his balance and falling to the ground. His slimy exterior melted away, leaving the exposed form of the sleeping human host.

"Well done. I'll make sure you get dibs on the shower when we get home. Just don't let Cyborg rinse you off with the fire hose."

Using her telekinesis powers Megan peeled the ooze off her body, but much to her chagrin she found that she still smelled like a latrine. Raven could sense her distress.

"Don't worry Megan; I have a special body wash that I had made just for this situation, it'll get rid of the stench. By the way, good job knocking him out, I couldn't have done it better myself."

"You mean this has happened to you before?"

"Oh yes, more than once." Raven droned. "To all of us in fact."

At the opposite end of the street Beast Boy and YJ-Robin were busy fighting four living bronze statues. Fortunately they weren't big but they were still solid metal. Robin threw 2 exploding bird-a-rangs at the nearest of the bronze golems and they exploded on contact, leaving the living statue twisted and deformed. Robin began to celebrate but to his surprise the golem quickly resumed its original humanoid form and resumed its attack, lunging at the younger Boy Wonder. Before Robin could get out if the way a large tail swatted the golem away and that tail belonged to a green stegosaurus, which quickly morphed back into its human form.

"Thanks! Your powers are cool."

Beast Boy did a double take on the lad.

"Really? My Robin's never said that. All he ever does is pick on me, pointing out every mistake I make. He even tried to arrest me once for a crime I didn't commit."

"He sounds like Batman. What's with him? Did someone stick a broom up his butt?"

The changeling grinned. He was beginning to like this junior version of the Boy Wonder.

"Some of us think he was born with one already there. But never mind that, we gotta get Control Freak's clicker from him."

"How? We can't get to him with all those golems protecting him."

Robin saw a gleam in the changeling's eyes.

"Leave it to me!"

Beast Boy then turned to Control Freak and shouted above the battlefield din.

"Hey Control Freak! The Clash of the Planets prequel trilogy was way better than the original trilogy."

The nerdy villain, who was dancing as he controlled his golems, stopped dead in his tracks and glared at the changeling.

"You're out of your mind. The prequel trilogy sucked."

"But it had better special effects."

"Big deal."

"And the Space Samurai were way cooler in the prequel."

By this point Control Freak had completely forgotten about the battle.

"You're nuts Beast Boy! I can give you 10 reasons why the original trilogy was better. First of all …"

Control Freak never finished his diatribe as a well placed bird-a-rang knocked his remote control out of his hand. The boomerang, embedded into the controller returned to Robin, who used the clicker to stop the golems, returning them to their original inanimate form.

"Oh crap!" The pudgy villain groaned. "I always forget to bring a spare."

The T-Car finally arrived at the scene and Cyborg, Superboy, Artemis, Jinx and Speedy emerged from the car.

"Hey Superboy, why didn't you fly here?" Speedy asked.

"He hasn't learned to fly yet." Artemis answered. "He's still kind of rough around the edges."

"The only thing that's gonna end up rough around here is all the bad guy butt we're gonna kick." Cyborg crowed. "Titans Go!"

Jinx and Speedy led Artemis into the fray. By this point the battle was in full swing and they saw several large robotic gorillas emerge from the bank; each one weighed down with at least a ton of gold ingots. Cyborg and Superboy rushed at the synthetic simians, but their attention was soon diverted to their quarry: Overload.

Jinx went on the offensive, opening a crack in the pavement into which the electrical villain fell. The tactic wasn't effective as Overload quickly emerged and fired several lightning bolts at the pink haired Titan, who somersaulted out of the way. Artemis turned to Speedy.

"So she and your Wally are a couple?"

"Hard to believe, isn't it? Next thing you know we're gonna find out that Raven actually likes Beast Boy." He laughed. "And that pigs fly."

Artemis eyed the young archer. It was true she surmised, men were clueless. Meanwhile Jinx counterattacked with a spell that caused a wall to collapse onto Overload, but the villain remained undeterred as he emerged from the pile of rubble.

"We should help her." Artemis reminded the Green Arrow's former sidekick.

"Are you thinking what I'm thinking?" He replied.

Artemis nodded as they each pulled an arrow with a fat tip from their quivers, firing them in unison. As the arrows approached their target the tips exploded, two nets emerged and enveloped the Earl of Electrons, wrapping themselves around the villain, grounding themselves into the floor at the same time. The nets were highly conductive and drained Overload's power safely into the ground. The two archers high fived each other to celebrate their victory.

Cyborg and Superboy charged at the robotic apes, and there were 8 of them. The chrome colored apes dropped their precious cargo and engaged the charging heroes.

"If they're anything like Rancid's robots from the past, they'll be tough." Cyborg warned the Kryptonian clone.

Superboy ignored the tin man's warning and charged at his opponents. He connected his first punch with a robot's head, knocking it clear off its body. Much to his surprise the robot continued fighting, and connected a solid punch to his solar plexus, sending him flying into a wall. As he shook his head he saw Cyborg finish off the damaged robot with his sonic cannon. Frustrated with his lack of success he charged at another robot and began swinging at it, missing as the robot was able to dodge his predicable strikes.

"Yo, Superboy, relax! Let big and stupid take the first swing, then let him have it. Johnny's robots are strong, but they ain't the sharpest knives in the drawer!"

Superboy followed the tin man's advice and was easily able to take down his opponent. After that it wasn't long before all the robots were vanquished. Rancid turned and fled back into the bank.

"C'mon Superboy, let's get him!"

Connor grinned and followed Cyborg into the bank.

_**-(scene break)-**_

A large metal door creaked open and revealed the silhouette of a large figure, which silently entered. The sound of gears turning echoed throughout the enormous chamber, part of an automated assembly line that was fully self-contained. Sheet metal was stamped, electronic circuit boards were populated with components and wave soldered, gears were machined and subcomponents were assembled, all in secrecy and out of sight of eyes that shouldn't see them or the end result: robots.

Slade stopped at the end of the assembly line to inspect the final product and was pleased with what he saw. The fit and finish of his latest generation of automatons was without flaw, a perfect match for the enhanced Artificial Intelligence the droids now possessed. These were a far cry from the crude machines he had once used to conquer Jump City after his apprentice had temporarily vanquished the Titans.

Satisfied with what he saw the villain known as Deathstroke carried on, leaving the factory section of his lair behind. If there was one issue that still gave him trouble though, it was procuring raw materials, but that was now his current apprentice's job, and the supply chain had so far remained unbroken.

Slade walked past a bank of giant screens which monitored key sections of the city and noticed the commotion at the downtown bank.

"I see that the Titans have new friends." He announced in his signature monotone.

"They appeared out of nowhere." Another voice announced.

"No doubt they arrived on that alien spaceship that crash landed yesterday." Slade replied.

"There's more, Slade."

"Report."

"It's better if you see it with your own eyes."

Slade growled internally, he didn't care for the sassy attitude his apprentice seemed to enjoy giving him, but he tolerated it as he judged it was a small price to pay. He refocused his attention on the screens. He first noticed the green girl who with Raven stood over Plasmus' unconscious human host. Speedy, Jinx and a girl dressed in green huddled together as Jinx held Overload's deactivated red circuit board in her hand. Another screen showed Robin and Beast Boy apprehending the idiot Control Freak. He then saw that Mumbo had been apprehended by …

"Two copies of Kid Flash, that is intriguing, and what's this, a new Kryptonian?"

"You haven't seen anything yet." She interjected as she pointed to another screen, where Starfire and … Robin rushed into the bank.

Slade said nothing at first, but finally addressed his apprentice.

"That explains why the first Robin's attire was different."

"He's also a little smaller; I think he's younger than the Titan's Robin."

Slade crossed his arms before complimenting his apprentice.

"Well done apprentice, your training has not gone to waste. Do you have any theories on where the Titans' guests are from?"

"A parallel universe?"

"A near certainty. I have retrieved a piece of wreckage from the ship that crashed. Come; let's examine it in the lab."

Slade and his apprentice left the monitor room and walked into a brightly lit lab. The room was clean and immaculate and was as well equipped as the Batcave. Slade had learned long ago that what made Batman a formidable foe wasn't his collection of battlefield toys. Ra's al Ghul called the Dark Knight 'The Detective' and for good reason: Batman beat his opponents with his brains as well as his brawn.

Slade stepped up to a workstation and removed the sample he collected from the bag using a pair of large tweezers. He placed it onto what looked like an oversize Petri dish. After taping a few keystrokes the sample was irradiated by an orange light and shimmered an otherworldly glow. Slade waited patiently until a printer whirred itself to life and printed a single page report, which he took and read quickly before handing it his apprentice, who tried, and failed, to interpret the results.

"What does this mean Slade?"

"Your formal education is poor my apprentice, I will need to further your training in the sciences. What the report says, it is as I suspected. The ship is alien in origin and organic in its composition."

"Organic? You mean it's alive?"

"That is correct."

"Why would anyone do that?" She asked.

Slade tapped on more keys and the orange field was replaced by a series of other colors, which shifted quickly. Suddenly the shard changed shape and became disc shaped. Slade continued tapping on his keyboard and the alien artifact continued to change shapes.

"That is why. Imagine having a ship that can adapt to the circumstances."

"It still crashed." She replied dryly.

"Nothing is infallible, Terra. But think about it. Just as you bend the earth to your will, the visitors can bend life to their will. The possibilities and applications are … intriguing."

_**-(scene break)-**_

The scene inside the bank building was one of devastation. Smashed desks, overturned chairs and broken glass littered the lobby and it was obvious that the bank had been evacuated in a hurry. The main vault had been ripped off its hinges, but it only contained safe deposit boxes and a small amount of cash, which wasn't surprising being the age of electronic money. A rumbling sound echoed from the basement below, which is where the gold bars were kept.

"Cyborg, can you pick anything up with your sensors?"

The cybernetic Titan checked the instrument panel built into his arm.

"They're down there alright, and it's more than Cinderblock and Rancid. I can't tell how many though."

Beast Boy and YJ-Robin entered the lobby.

"We can help!" YJ-Robin crowed. "Which way to the basement?"

"Not so fast, we need to plan this out first." TT-Robin admonished his younger twin.

"You sound like him."

TT-Robin glared at his doppelganger.

"I am nothing like him." He growled as he made a horizontal motion with his arm.

"Yeah, right. Let me guess, even though she's your girlfriend you haven't made a real commitment to her, have you? Does that sound familiar? Selina Kyle?"

"Don't you dare compare Starfire to that wretch!"

"But I'm right. You haven't made a commitment to her, even though she's incredibly nice and … totally hot. And just like our mentor you've become a joyless, crime fighting obsessed recluse who has no time for a life."

"At least I have a girlfriend; I'll bet the only girl you ever kissed was Babs!"

The Tamaranian stepped between the two arguing boys.

"STOOOP! Or have you forgotten that we are on a mission?"

TT-Robin stepped back, suddenly aware that he was making an ass of himself. Starfire turned to the younger boy, her eyes glowing menacingly.

"You will apologize for your rude remarks."

The younger Robin was caught off guard by Starfire's reaction. Since their arrival the only side he had seen of her was her saccharine sweet personality. That and the ample flesh that her skimpy outfit exposed. He had also noticed that Raven's leotard exposed her shapely legs and hugged her figure, advertising her feminine curves. He wondered why his female teammates didn't wear such enticing costumes. But now he was seeing the Tamaranian's fierce side, and he quickly realized that she was also scarier than any of his teammates.

"I'm sorry Starfire." He apologized. "But I stand by what I said; Robin has no excuse for being such a killjoy, not when he has such a hot girlfriend like you."

Starfire smiled.

"We shall discuss this later, for now we have a mission at hand and Robin is our leader."

TT-Robin nodded at his girlfriend.

"Thanks, Star. Beast Boy, I want you to go scout the basement and see who's there."

"I'm on it!" The changeling replied as he morphed into a fly and disappeared down the stairs that led to the basement.

"He's so cool!" YJ-Robin gushed, while his older twin cringed.

What was wrong with him? TT-Robin wondered. How could he be so different? He actually likes Beast Boy, instead of finding him completely annoying.

Beast Boy returned within a moment and after resuming his human form gave his report.

"Cinderblock and Rancid are down there and I saw two more of his gorilla bots. I also saw Mammoth, Gizmo and Billy Numerous. See-more wasn't there, so they can't see us. Cinderblock was trying to punch an escape route for them, and I think they're gonna leave the gold behind."

"But they know we're coming, which is why they're trying to escape. We need to move fast. Cyborg, you take down Billy Numerous, Superboy, you take Mammoth. Beast Boy and Robin, you take Rancid and his droids, Starfire you take Cinderblock and I'll tackle Gizmo. Are we ready?"

The five heroes nodded.

"Titans Go!"

_**-(scene break)-**_

Some action and a little cliffhanger.

I just love to pair Slade and Terra up. And don't worry, I haven't forgotten about Kaldur.


	4. Rancid's Revenge

The ocean current felt unseasonably cold to Kaldur and the surroundings, while familiar felt … wrong. He continued to swim alongside Garth, knowing that they were approaching their destination: Atlantis. They continued swimming quietly for a while until Kaldur broke the silence.

"I suppose that I shouldn't expect a welcome home parade."

"They know we're coming, but I have no idea what to expect. Aquaman was away when I called but the Queen sounded … well surprised or maybe shocked. She wouldn't believe me; she thought that it was some sort of prank."

Kaldur sighed. He was beginning to wonder if visiting this parallel Atlantis was such a good idea after all. He silently hoped that Aquaman would understand.

Soon they were approaching the outskirts of the capital of the underwater kingdom, as simpler and smaller structures began to dot the seascape. Word had gotten around, as the furtive looks by the curious and unbelieving were increasing in their frequency as they peeked from behind doors. The few who were out and about simply stopped what they were doing and they stared and gawked at the ghost from the past. As the two Atlanteans continued to swim towards the palace something caught Kaldur's eye: it was a large statue of him, depicting him in battle with Trident.

Kaldur darted off to examine the monument and discovered that it was where he was entombed. As he looked upon the statue he recalled the day he had been ambushed by Trident. He floated motionlessly in front of the watery grave, with a distant look in his eyes. Garth glided up next to him and stopped, floating next to him.

"The only reason I didn't die was because you were there."

Garth placed a hand on Kaldur's shoulder.

"I wanted to come with you, but you told me to stay behind, that you would take care of him. I didn't want to, but you convinced me to stay behind and protect the Queen since Aquaman was away on Justice League business. She told me that she would be fine and that I should go help you, but I arrived too late… "

Kaldur returned the gesture to Garth.

"It was the same in my realm, except that I was able to fend of Trident, even though I was seriously injured, until you arrived to help me."

Garth looked remorseful.

"If only I had hurried …"

"Do not blame yourself Garth; your duty was to protect the Queen."

"Had I arrived just a minute earlier …" He replied, struggling to not break down.

"Forgive me Garth; I should not have stopped to linger here. Let us continue to the palace."

The two Aqualads resumed their trek to the gleaming structure in the middle of the underwater city.

_**-(scene break)-**_

"Get ready guys, they're coming." See-More announced as he emerged from his hiding place.

"Who are we up against?" Gizmo sneered. "I'll bet it's that snot muncher Beast Boy and that pile of obsolete tech."

See-More flipped through his different filters as he peered through the solid concrete that separated them from the Titans.

"Yeah, it's them. I also see Starfire." He replied as he continued to flip through his eye filters. "But something's not right, I see two Robins."

"Two Robins?" Mammoth remarked.

"It's true, I saw both of them. And there's a teenage version of Superman." Rancid added.

"Barf bag!" Gizmo yelped. "We gotta get out of here. Cinderblock, pick up the pace! Billy, start dividing!"

The redneck villain responded with a southern rebel yell and began to replicate himself.

"Those city boys won't know what hit them! And once were done with them we'll keep that purty alien girl all for ourselves, right Billy?"

"Damn right Billy, we'll show her what a real man is like! Yeehaw!"

"Stop clowning around you stupid yahoo! They have a Kryptonian with them, and he creamed my robots!" Rancid howled.

Gizmo turned around just in time to see Superboy leap off the stairs and land on the basement floor, slightly cracking the floor with impact of his feet. The bald genius was prancing around on his signature spider legs when he fired a volley of miniature guided missiles, which careened around the room until they locked onto their target: the Kryptonian youth. All 5 missiles hit Connor at the same time, enveloping him in a dark cloud of dark smoke as the concussion effect of the combined explosions rocked the basement.

"Score!" The bald midget crowed.

Superboy emerged from the smoky mist, looking unfazed.

"Sludge! He really is a Kryptonian!" Gizmo shrieked as his spider legs turned him around and he began to flee. He then heard a familiar humming sound and braced himself as two pairs of bird-a-rangs sliced through his 4 mechanical spider legs.

"W-whoah!" He shouted as he faced planted onto the hard marble floor, and was knocked out unconscious. Meanwhile Mammoth cracked his knuckles as Superboy grinned at him, looking like a lion about to claim its prey.

"I always wanted to take on a Kryptonian, and you know what? You don't look that tough!"

At the other end of the room TT-Robin joined his girlfriend while Cyborg used his sonic cannons that had been tuned to a special frequency that cancelled out Billy's self replicating powers. With a panicked shout the copies of red clad villain began to collapse into each other, until only one was left. With a big grin adorning his face Cyborg punched him out cold.

Mammoth threw a haymaker at Connor who easily dodged it while he smirked and countered with a right jab that sent the villain flying into a pile of gold ingots. Mammoth staggered back to his feet while Superboy gestured to him to bring it on, which Mammoth did as he began to throw the heavy golden bricks at the Kryptonian and while they bounced of the lad the villain could see that it did cause the boy of steel some pain.

"I knew it! You're not as strong as Supes, are you punk?"

Upon hearing the unwelcome comparison Superboy went into a rage and pummeled Mammoth. The bulky villain tried to parry his strikes but was no match for the clone. With a swift upper cut he knocked the villain out.

Starfire and Robin had no trouble in subduing the concrete brute and Robin took inventory of the situation that remained

Beast Boy morphed into a T-Rex and after bumping his head on the ceiling he shrank back to his default form while YJ-Robin captured Johnny Rancid with a bolo rope, which tightly twirled itself around the villain who fell to the ground and flopped around like a fish out of water. TT-Robin took down one of the robots with one of his electrified bird-a-rangs, which fried the mechanical ape's circuits.

Beast Boy shook his head, attempting to regain some clarity after bumping his head. He stood up to face the silver gorilla just as Raven and Miss Martian flew into the basement, they were free as the authorities had already carted off Plasmus' dormant human host.

Instead of charging at him the robot opened its mouth and a high caliber rifle barrel telescoped out of it, aiming straight at the changeling's heart. Summoning ever fiber of his animal reflexes he tried to dodge out of the way. The robot fired just a split second before Superboy demolished it with a body slam.

Raven watched in horror as time appeared to slow down. She raised her hand to conjure an obsidian shield but she was too late as she heard the sickening sound of the bullet passing through the changeling's chest. He staggered for a moment with a dazed look on his face before collapsing onto the floor.

"GARFIELD!" Raven screamed in horror.

_**-(scene break)-**_

As Kaldur approached the palace the curious crowds became larger and less self conscious and soon people were pointing at him, whispering to each other in hushed tones. The two lads picked up the pace and swam faster and were soon on palace grounds. Kaldur noticed how the guards retreated from him in a gesture of deference, which was beginning to wear on him. They continued swimming until they reached the inner courtyard of the palace where they both saw a black submarine.

"It looks like Bats came back with the King." Garth remarked.

The two young men swam up to an airlock and opened it. After cycling through it they entered a large, air filled chamber. Batman was in the final steps of setting up a temporary lab with Aquaman's help. The senior Atlantean heard the hatch open and stopped assisting the Dark Knight as he locked eyes with Kaldur. He stared, unable to hide his incredulity.

"I thought Garth was mistaken … but …it really is you!"

The Atlantean king rushed to the lad and threw his arms around him.

"Kaldur'ahm, you have been returned to us!"

The prodigal son lowered his head.

"No my king, I am not who you think I am."

Batman stepped from his workbench, holding a strange looking device in his hand. Kaldur took a good look at the Gothamite. Again, as with so many things in this world he looked familiar … and yet different. His cape was longer and dragged on the floor and he seemed a tad less ominous than the Batman he knew back home. He waved the sensor over Kaldur several times before heading back to his console, where he docked the sensor and began to tap on the keyboard. After a couple of minutes he addressed the ghost.

"Your quantum signature doesn't match this universe."

"I believe we already knew that, Batman."

"But now we know for certain. The next step is to find your universe and get you home."

For the first time since they had crash landed on this world Kaldur felt a sense of relief.

"Thank you Batman, I shall return to Titans Tower to share your good news."

The Dark Knight shook his head.

"Before you begin celebrating, you need to know that it will take some time before we can locate your universe. It will be months, possibly years before we can locate your origin. But I agree that you should return to Titans Tower and remain with your team."

Aqualad looked around at the strange yet familiar Atlantis, an Atlantis that knew him as a fallen hero. As much as he wanted to stay he knew he didn't belong there. He felt as if he was a counterfeit version of himself.

"I understand Batman."

Aquaman placed a hand on Kaldur's shoulder.

"Before you leave, I would like to spend some time with you. I wish to hear what you have done … since you've been gone. There also some people who wish to see you … including your mother."

Batman turned and began to walk away.

"Kaldur'ahm, I'm going back to Gotham to take care of some unfinished business. When you return to Titans Tower tell Robin that I will be coming to visit ... soon."

_**-(scene break)-**_

"GARFIELD!" Raven screamed in horror.

Robin, Starfire and Cyborg stared in disbelief at the changeling's slumped body. Rancid grinned, acknowledging that even though they had been defeated that the day wasn't a total loss. Raven ran to the green Titan's side and examined his wound. The bullet had pierced his left lung and had missed his heart. He was bleeding profusely and she began to work on stemming the blood that was hemorrhaging from his wound, using her healing powers. Within seconds the bleeding had stopped.

"We need to get him to a hospital." She announced, unable to hide the trepidation in her voice.

"Starfire! Take him to Jump City Central Hospital; they have a trauma center there." Cyborg howled.

The princess, now at Raven's side, gently picked up the changeling and flew out of the basement, followed by Raven who was oblivious to the blood stains on her own clothes. By this point the entire combined team was assembled in the bank's lower level and the mood was somber. Dozens of police officers charged down the stairs, flooding the basement with their blue colored uniforms and took the captured villains into custody.

"Cyborg, take everyone back to the Tower and set them up in the guest rooms. I'm going to the hospital."

The younger version of the Boy Wonder noticed the look of worry on his doppelganger's face. It was a feeling he knew all too well, for he experienced years ago after the trapeze incident which had claimed his parents' lives. The sense of helplessness, it was the one thing he had never learned to deal with. And now they were helpless, there was nothing they could do to help Beast Boy.

Artemis watched as Starfire and Raven rushed the changeling to the hospital. Raven had not even bothered to try hiding what she was feeling now, and she wondered if the gray girl might find herself regretting not having told Beast Boy how she felt about him. She saw the local version of Kid Flash talking with Jinx, and both looked shaken up over what had happened. As she continued to watch they embraced and shared a kiss. YJ-Kid Flash was standing over the small puddle of blood that Beast Boy had shed before Raven came to his aid. Artemis approached him and he looked up at her.

"Are you OK?" She asked him.

"I guess so, how about you?"

"I'm not hurt." She replied as she took his hand. "Let's go with Robin to the hospital."

_**-(scene break)-**_

Slade leaned back in his lab chair, staring at the high definition display on the electron microscope. He was examining the sample from Miss Martian's ship, which much to his displeasure was dead. He had deciphered why the organic sample had died: it needed nourishment. The problem was he didn't know what sort of nourishment it needed. He first tried feeding it sugar compounds, starting with glucose. The sugars only exacerbated the sample's condition, and it quickly began to deteriorate. He switched to non sugar carbohydrates and while they didn't hurt the sample, they didn't help either. He then tried proteins, electrolytes, vitamins, etc. Nothing helped and within an hour the tissue sample perished.

The post-mortem yielded no clues as to why the sample did not survive. Slade rose from the lab workbench and walked to the small mess hall in the lair, where the blond geomancer, who was now a shapely young woman, was preparing a simple supper for the two of them.

"Any luck Slade?"

The one eyed villain crossed his arms behind his back.

"The sample from the ship did not survive. We will need to collect more samples, Terra."

The blond served the contents of her skillet onto a pair of plates, handing one to Slade.

"Where will we get them? We already checked the park, there aren't any left there."

"The ship's wreckage has been moved to Titans Tower. We will have to procure it from there."

Terra snorted derisively.

"And how are we supposed to get in there? Cyborg's upgraded the security since I lived in the Tower. How are we supposed to break in?"

Slade removed his mask and took a bite of his dinner.

"We won't break in."

"Oh no! Don't even think of it. I'm not going back to them, just to betray them again. I doubt Raven would let me get past the front door anyway."

"You will do as I tell you Terra; this is not up for negotiation."

Terra glanced at the small ring, which was a thin and narrow platinum band on her left ring finger. She reached for it with her right hand and slid it off her hand. As soon as it was removed her finger began to turn into stone and within seconds her entire hand was petrified and the effect was working its way up her forearm. She quickly slipped the ring back on her finger, which within seconds reverted to being flesh and blood.

"I brought you back with that ring Terra, an artifact that I collected while I temporarily served Raven's father. And do not forget that it obeys me, and only me, Terra. All I have to do is say the word and you will once again return to your old stony form."

"I won't hurt Beast Boy, Slade."

"You won't need to harm him. All I want are more samples, and the knowledge of how to keep them alive and even grow them. If you do that for me Terra I will liberate you permanently from the curse of the Earth, and you will be free to indulge with the changeling in any way you desire."

"That won't be easy to do Slade. I just can't walk up and ask them the secret to the alien ship."

"You know me Terra, when it is worth it I can be very patient."

The geomancer sighed. Slade had kept her under his control since resurrecting her in the cavern using the magic ring. He sent her to Murakami School to complete her education and Beast Boy had showed up at an inopportune time, and had almost ruined his plan to bring Terra back as his apprentice.

"So what am I supposed to do? Just show up at the Tower and say I'm back?"

"Have you not been watching the news? Beast Boy was shot and is in the hospital."

Terra stared dumfounded. The news hit her like a bucket of ice water. Without saying a word she turned and ran out of the room.

"That's my girl." The one eyed villain chuckled.

_**-(scene break)-**_

The three heroes marched into the lobby of the city's main hospital, which was relatively calm, much unlike the way they were feeling. They were quickly noticed by the staff and a young aide trotted up to them.

"Please come with me." She told them and began to lead them down the labyrinth like hallways of the huge facility.

"What is Beast Boy's status?" Robin asked.

"I know is that he's in surgery right now." She replied. "I'm afraid that's all I know."

The aide stopped in front of a door that was labeled 'In Use' and led them in. It was a waiting room of medium size. It had a few couches and a television in a corner hanging from the ceiling as well as a water fountain.

Raven was sitting on a couch, leaning forward with a devastated look on her face. Starfire sat next to her and had an arm draped around the gray Titan's shoulder while she also sported a sorrowful expression. They both looked up at the door and neither was able to conceal their disappointment that it wasn't a doctor with some news regarding Beast Boy.

Starfire then stood up and ran to her boyfriend, wrapping her arms around him as she began to bawl. Raven looked away and dropped her head, staring at the floor with a vacant look in her eyes. Artemis walked over to the couch and sat down next to the sorceress, who looked up at her.

"Are you OK?" The archer asked her.

Raven sighed.

"I don't know."

Starfire released Robin from her embrace while YJ-Kid Flash stood by, not knowing what to do.

"Friend Raven is doing the anguishing for her heart mate." The alien announced. Artemis took Raven's hand.

"I'm sure he's gonna be OK Raven."

"I guess the cat's out of the bag … it's true … I love an idiot." Raven confessed sotto voce.

"So do I." Artemis whispered back. "I guess they're our idiots now."

Raven looked up and saw Robin standing before her. He took her hands and she rose, as he drew her into an embrace.

"Artemis is right, he'll recover, I just know it."

Raven tightened her arms around Robin.

"I'm such an idiot." She murmured.

"Don't beat yourself up Raven." He replied. "When he wakes up, you can tell him …"

Robin was interrupted by the waiting room's door opening again. The five of them turned to see who it was. Kid Flash and Artemis didn't recognize their visitor but it was apparent from the looks on the three Titans that they did. Robin and Starfire looked surprised while Raven was unable to mask her contempt for the sudden arrival, who self consciously raised her hand and waved at the three Titans.

"Hey guys, it's been a long time." She said with a weak smile.

_**-(scene break)-**_

And that's chapter 4!

Lots of things are happening. Batsy is threatening to visit the Tower, BB's hurt, Raven and Artemis are coming to terms with how they feel about a couple of goofballs and Aqualad has found out that getting home will be more difficult than he had originally hoped.

And then there's Slade and Terra.


	5. Because he's mine

Artemis was able to sense that something was wrong … very wrong. Robin and Starfire went from surprised to outright stupefied, both were slack jawed as they gawked at the interloper. She then looked back at Raven and stifled a gasp when she saw 4 crimson red eyes adorn the sorceress's face. Raven opened her mouth and the archer saw her now serrated teeth.

"So it's true, you have come back." Raven growled in a guttural, otherworldly voice.

Artemis turned to the obviously unwelcome blond.

"Who the hell are you?"

"Her name is Terra, and as for whom she is, she is a geomancer and a traitor." Raven snarled. "Why are you here, Terra?"

"A geomancer?" Artemis asked in a confused voice.

"She's an earth bender." Robin clarified. "And you haven't answered the question: what are you doing here? And how did you free yourself?"

Artemis examined the blond intruder. The young archer wasn't as educated as Raven, but she had street smarts, plenty of them, and they told her that the girl was bad news.

"You said she's a traitor?"

"She betrayed us to Slade."

Artemis shook her head. "Who?"

"Slade Wilson, also known as Deathstroke the Terminator."

Artemis and Wally both went bug eyed. The archer quickly drew an arrow and aimed it at Terra.

"Deathstroke? She betrayed you to Deathstroke?" The speedster exclaimed.

"That's unforgivable." Artemis snarled.

Terra raised her hands in a conciliatory gesture.

"Whoa guys, that was a long time ago. I thought I had redeemed myself … you know … when I saved the city from the underground volcano."

Raven narrowed her 4 eyes and raised her fists. Her entire body was crackling with her dark energy, which danced on her figure like flames on a log.

"So it really was you who broke Garfield's heart last time."

"What are you talking about Raven? Who's Garfield?"

"BEAST BOY, YOU IDIOT! You were the school girl he found. Do you have any idea of how heartbroken he was after you dumped him?"

"Since when do you care about BB?"

Artemis felt a snarl form on her lips and she pulled back on her arrow, flexing the bow to the point where it was begging to release the titanium shaft arrow with its reinforced tip.

"Since he's her boyfriend, doofus."

Terra guffawed.

"BB? He's Raven's boyfriend. I must have forgotten to check the calendar, cuz I don't remember this being April Fool's Day!"

Starfire raised her hand, with only her index finger extended.

"To be precise, Beast Boy is Raven's heart …"

Robin gently placed his hand over the Tamaranian's lips, delicately shushing her. He then turned to Artemis and gently pushed her bow and arrow so they aimed at the ground. Terra took on a more serious air and addressed the group.

"I saw in the news that BB was in the hospital, so I came to see him."

"You have no business here Terra, leave now." Raven ordered the blond in her monotone. "If you don't I'll throw you out myself. I won't let you hurt him again."

Terra smirked before replying.

"You're welcome to try Raven. The last time you and I went one on one I totally kicked your butt, and I know I can do it again. But let me make one thing clear, if anyone has bragging rights to being BB's girlfriend, it's me. And if anyone's ever hurt him before, it was you."

Starfire's eyes began to glow a fluorescent green.

"Today Raven is not alone. Together we will do the kicking of the butt to you!"

Terra sized up her opposition. There were 5 of them and she wasn't sure what to expect of the blond archer. She decided to switch gears.

"Hey, I didn't come here to fight. I really came to see BB, to tell him I'm sorry and …"

"And?" Wally asked.

"And ask him to take me back."

Raven felt a dagger plunge into her heart. She was already in the middle of a nightmare before the geomancer walked back into her life. This was more than she had bargained for or expected. Terra was never supposed to come back, never.

"Sorry Terra … but Raven has dibs on Beast Boy." Artemis snarled at her.

"Shouldn't BB get to decide that?"

"Right now he's in no shape to decide anything; he's fighting for his life in the operating room." Robin interjected.

The discussion was interrupted by the sound of the door opening in the lounge. A young doctor, dressed in the ubiquitous white lab coat and with a stethoscope draped around his neck peered cautiously into the lounge. The fracas that was on the verge of boiling over like an unwatched kettle was nipped in the bud.

"Beast Boy is awake. You can come see him."

_**-(scene break)-**_

The videogame controller hit the floor, smashing into a thousand pieces.

"This is stupid! Videogames are stupid!"

"Aw c'mon Connor, so you lost … 10 times in a row." YJ-Robin teased his friend. Superboy stood up in a huff and turned to the common room doors, ready to storm out of the room when the sliding doors opened. Jinx entered the room first, followed by a green girl dressed in a revealing purple outfit. She looked both mortified and a little self conscious.

"Are you sure she won't mind that I borrowed her clothes?"

The pink haired spellcaster gave her a friendly smile.

"Starfire won't mind, and your old clothes, well to be honest, we'll never get Plasmus' stench out of them."

"But I didn't really need a change of clothes. I could have shape shifted to look like I'm wearing clothes…"

"But you'd be naked!" Jinx protested.

M'gann giggled.

"No one would have known, Jinx."

"Oh they would have." She gestured at the boys. "They have radar for stuff like that. Besides, you look good in Starfire's clothes. She'll be more than happy to take you shopping at the mall tomorrow…"

Jinx stopped talking when she noticed that all the guys had stopped what they were doing and were ogling the Martian girl.

"… and she'll help you pick something … nice."

She then noticed that Superboy had wandered off to the kitchen area with a very unhappy look on his face.

"Maybe you should go talk to your boyfriend. He looks grumpy."

Megan closed her eyes and sighed.

"He's not my boyfriend."

"Coulda fooled me. I still think you should go talk to him."

Megan nodded and glided over to the boy wearing the black T shirt with the famous "S" logo on it. At first he stiffened as he noticed everyone was watching them. Jinx glared at the gawkers, who got the message and after replacing the broken GameStation controller resumed playing the racing car game on the console.

Connor relaxed as Megan approached him.

"You were great today. You smashed those robots and took care of Mammoth." She complemented him.

He closed his eyes and frowned.

"I wasn't fast enough to help Beast Boy."

"Connor, you can't blame yourself for that."

He shook his head.

"Kal-El would have helped him. He would have been fast enough. I'm nothing but a bad copy of him."

"That's not true Connor."

"Don't patronize me. I suck and I know it." He replied as he turned away from her.

Megan cupped his face in her palm and gently turned him to face her.

"Kal El's had years to learn to use his powers. You need to give yourself some credit; you've come so far in so little time."

"No I haven't, I can't even fly."

"Neither could he when he was younger. Please be patient Connor, I know you'll be able to do everything you want. I'm positive."

She took his hand and gave it a tight squeeze.

"I'm sure Beast Boy is going to be fine." She reassured him.

"Raven really cares about him, doesn't she?" He replied with a hint of envy in his voice. "It must be nice …"

"Cyborg was telling me that she has a hard time expressing her feelings. She reminds me of someone I know."

"Who? Me?" He asked defensively.

"No, I was thinking of Artemis."

"I thought she couldn't stand Kid Flash."

"So did I, I guess we were wrong." She added.

Superboy looked at the floor, unable to hide his discomfort.

"M'Gann, there's something I want to ask you."

She opened her eyes wide with anticipation.

"Yes?"

"Do you …"

"Hey y'all! Now that Megan's all cleaned up let's go check out that spaceship of yours!" Cyborg interrupted in a booming voice. "I want to start inspecting it. Maybe I can find out which dimension you guys came from. Oh and there's good news…"

The tin man turned to address the crowd.

"I just got word from Robin, the green bean's OK."

The assembled heroes cheered their approval. Cyborg turned back to the alien couple.

"Now how about we go take a look at that ship of yours?"

_**-(scene break)-**_

Raven felt her heart pounding in her chest as the young resident doctor led them to Beast Boy's room. The hallways felt interminable and the scent of antiseptic assaulted her nostrils as she hurried after the doctor, her cape billowing behind her.

"What's the prognosis?" She asked him with a hint of anxiety disrupting her monotone.

"The wound, while big, only grazed his lung. The real danger for him was bleeding to death, but you took care of that Miss Raven. He owes you his life."

"And I owe him mine." She murmured to herself.

They reached the room within a few minutes and entered quietly. The changeling was resting peacefully in his bed. His eyes were closed and he had an IV in his arm. Raven felt her heart break as he looked weak and very pale. His breathing was somewhat laborious and he opened his eyes when they entered the room.

"Dudes, you came to see me." He greeted them in raspy whisper.

Robin and Starfire walked up to the changeling's bedside. Robin shook his hand while Starfire kissed him repeatedly. Raven watched from the doorway, paralyzed by her own insecurity. She felt joy in her heart, seeing Beast Boy smile at Robin and Starfire. She had feared that she would never see that smile again and felt warm tears slide down her gray cheeks.

Artemis gently elbowed her and gestured with her eyes, telling the sorceress to go to the changeling's side. Raven subtly shook her head, her eyes unable to conceal the discomfort and insecurity she was feeling.

"What are you waiting for?" Artemis whispered to her. "Go and tell him."

"In front of everyone? No way." Raven whispered back.

Raven then stumbled as she was shoved out of the way. She quickly regained her balance and looked up just in time to see Terra standing next to the changeling's bed.

"Who said she could come here?" Raven growled. "No one invited her."

"Looks like she invited herself." Artemis responded. "I know it's none of my business Raven, but if you don't make your move …"

Raven stared in horror as Terra took the changeling's ungloved hand and kissed his palm.

"Hi BB"

Raven watched as Beast Boy became wide eyed.

"Terra?"

The blond earth bender smiled happily.

"Are you OK BB? I heard that you were shot."

"I was? I … I don't remember anything."

Terra smiled.

"I've come back BB, this time for real."

"Really?"

She nodded.

"BB, I'm sorry I told you that things change. Will you take me back BB, please? I want to be your girlfriend."

Artemis leaned over and whispered into Raven's ear.

"It's now or never Raven. If you don't make your move she's gonna bag him."

It was then that the sorceress felt something snap inside her. She charged forward and shoved Terra away from the bed.

"You can't have him." Raven growled.

Terra smirked.

"And why not?"

Raven hesitated before answering.

"Because he's mine."

Beast Boy looked up at Raven with a bewildered look on his face.

"I am?"

"Yes, you are. Now shut up." She replied in her monotone.

Terra's eyes began to glow yellow. Robin stepped between the two young women while the changeling couldn't believe his luck: two girls were fighting over him.

"Terra, if you start a fight I will arrest you."

The blond pointed at Raven.

"She started it."

"I'm going to have to ask you to leave Terra …"

"I have just as much right to see him as she does!"

"You do not!" Starfire reprimanded her. "We are friend Beast Boy's teammates and you are not."

"But Starfire."

"You will be quiet Terra. You once said that I was easy to fool. I have not forgotten your treachery and you will not fool me this time."

Terra turned to Beast Boy.

"What do you say BB?"

Beast Boy stared at the blond geomancer. She had used him in the past to gain a place in the Tower, a vantage point from where she could betray the Titans. She had pulled him out just before Slade attacked the Tower, perhaps out of guilt or pity; to this day he wasn't sure. And then after admitting her treachery to him she reacted to his anger by running off with Slade. And then came the worst, she tried to personally annihilate them all, including him. He would never forget the look on her face as he fell into the chasm she had opened in the ground, how she had mocked him, teasing him over a goodbye kiss.

He also remembered how she then turned on Slade and sacrificed herself to save the city. He thought she had changed and he grieved her loss. He remembered how excited he was when he saw her again and recalled the pain of her rejection.

He felt torn. There was something about the blond girl that he found alluring, enticing, even intoxicating. He quickly glanced at Raven and saw something in her expression that he rarely ever saw: fear.

"I'm sorry Terra; maybe … I think you should leave. I'm sorry."

Terra stared in shock, unable to believe what she had just heard; the heretical words were burning in her ears. He chose the demoness over her.

"What? You can't be serious BB! She's a witch!"

"You heard him traitor, now get lost!" Artemis snarled.

Terra turned away and began to cry.

"I know you have every right to be angry with me. I want to make it up to you BB."

"It's too late for that Terra, I'm sorry."

"Please give me one more chance. I'll do anything, and I'm not just saying that BB, I mean it. I'll do anything you want, ANYTHING."

By this point Raven was red as a tomato. Artemis and Starfire were also livid.

"Terra! It does not become you to be the desperate slut. You will leave now, or I swear by X'Hal that I will remove you myself!"

Terra knew she was outnumbered and glared at the 3 women.

"He's mine, and I will win him back! Just you wait and see. I won't lose to a purple haired, foul tempered demoness."

As she stormed out the door she bellowed at them: "You haven't seen the last of Terra Markov!"

Once Terra was gone YJ-Kid Flash turned to Robin.

"Well, that was awkward."

"We don't have anyone like her back at home." Artemis added.

"You have no idea of how lucky you are." Raven commented in a voice as dry as burnt toast.

Starfire ran up to Raven and wrapped her arms around the Azarathian.

"Oh Raven! This is a glorious day! You have declared your love for our friend Beast Boy, or should I say boyfriend Beast Boy."

Raven blushed profusely.

"Could we talk about that later?" She replied as she noticed that the physician was still present. "Please forgive us this outburst doctor. Is there anything else you need to tell us?" She asked in her monotone.

The doctor was clearly feeling awkward himself, after witnessing the near catfight. He shuffled on his feet before answering.

"We think that we can release Beast Boy back into your care tomorrow. He will need to stay in the Tower infirmary for a few more days, but we think he should be fine otherwise." He then glanced at his watch. "I'm afraid that visiting hours are over…"

Artemis interrupted him.

"Doc, could Raven stay with Beast Boy tonight?"

The physician adjusted his eyeglasses while he thought about it.

"Well, that privilege is usually reserved for spouses, but I think we could make an exception. I'll make the arrangements and have a rollaway bed sent up for Miss Raven."

The doctor, followed by the 4 heroes who were going to return to the Tower, left the room after saying good night to Beast Boy. Raven ran and caught up with Artemis in the hallway.

"I don't know what to say."

"You're welcome." Artemis replied. "But if you don't kiss him tonight, I'm gonna kick your butt."

"Thanks for the warning." Raven replied. "And thanks … for everything."

_**-(scene break)-**_

Looks like Raven bagged BB, but Terra isn't known for giving up easily.


	6. Back from the dead

Kaldur'ahm followed Aquaman out of the palace, with Garth at his side. As they exited the airlock back into the cold ocean water he noticed that the black submarine was gone, along with the Dark Knight. They continued their way down the familiar boulevards of the underwater capital, this time without the gawking citizenry who knew better than to annoy the king with their rude stares. Nevertheless Kaldur could feel their furtive glances, even if they were hidden behind the drawn curtains in their homes.

Soon they approached the structure he immediately recognized as the home he grew up in with his mother. His father, Black Manta, had pretty much been absent most of his life and the burden and responsibility of raising him had fallen upon his mother alone. As they swam up to the front door it slowly opened in anticipation of their arrival.

Aquaman gestured to the young men to enter the dwelling first. Kaldur glided in first, followed by Garth and Aquaman. The home was spacious, a gift from the king to his mother. It was one of the nicest homes in the city outside of the palace grounds. The walls were made of the finest quartz, polished to the point of brilliance and the floors were made of onyx.

Kaldur saw his mother standing in the middle of the ample foyer. She was a beautiful woman; her ebony skin did not betray her years. She looked as if she was about to have a breakdown and he could see her jaw tremble. He felt awkward, knowing that this woman, while identical to his own mother in every way was in fact a stranger. Finally she threw her arms wide open and flung herself at the young man who was identical to her son. She wrapped her arms around him and buried her face into his shoulder, sobbing without shame. He gently wrapped his arms around her, understanding her reaction to him. After a few minutes she regained her composure and stepped back after kissing him on his cheek.

"I, I know you are not my Kaldur." She stammered. "The king has explained everything to me."

She exhaled a deep sigh.

"And yet, you are identical to him in every way."

The young man stared into the woman's eyes, searching for something that would betray that this woman was a stranger, but found nothing.

"I suppose that I am. You are identical to my own mother, except for the sorrow you have experienced."

"Tell me my son, what have you done since you defeated Trident?"

The four Atlanteans sat down at the couch and Kaldur explained how the Young Justice League was formed and how he wound up being the leader of the group.

"They're the equivalent of the Teen Titans in their universe." Garth added.

"Not quite." Kaldur corrected him. "Unlike the Titans we have only been together for a few months. Also unlike them, we are supervised by the Justice League."

Aquaman frowned upon hearing those words.

"The Justice League has mixed feelings about the Teen Titans. While they have proven themselves over time we still feel that they remain too reckless and too inexperienced to operate independent of supervision. There are many who are still livid that they did not contact the league for assistance when they confronted Trigon and Slade."

Kaldur looked confused.

"I am unfamiliar with this incident."

Aquaman proceeded to explain how Raven was Trigon's daughter, which had been kept a secret from the Justice League, and how she had been sired for the sole purpose of bringing Trigon into the universe.

"Had they asked for assistance we could have kept Slade away from Raven. The portal window was small. It was doable. Instead Raven knocked her teammates out and surrendered to Slade, effectively handing the world over to Trigon."

Kaldur stared dumbfounded at Aquaman.

"Raven is a demoness? How is that possible?"

Garth came to the gray Titan's defense.

"To be fair to Raven, she actually defeated and destroyed Trigon. And no one in the Justice League could have done that, not even Superman or Captain Marvel."

Kaldur became quiet as he processed all that he had heard.

"That is … most disturbing to hear. Having a demoness on the team, I cannot reconcile with that decision. Is Robin unaware of the risk of having someone like her on his team?"

"Raven is half human and is a dear friend." Garth replied in an irritated voice. "She isn't evil."

"She betrayed her friends and the entire world." Kaldur objected.

"Her father used his powers to overwhelm her will, she wasn't herself. But after she became the portal she was freed from her father's control. He underestimated her and she vanquished him."

Kaldur looked troubled.

"I find this world to be disturbing and I hope that Batman will soon be able to locate our origin so that we may be able to return to our home."

The woman placed a hand on his shoulder.

"My son, is there no way I can convince you to stay with us?"

Kaldur lowered his gaze to the floor, dreading what he was about to say.

"I understand why you ask this, but we must be honest with each other. You are not really my mother and I am not truly your son."

"Does it matter?" She asked with a sorrowful expression.

"I am afraid that it does. My true mother is back in my universe. Would you steal me from her?"

The dark skinned woman dropped her head.

"I understand what you are saying, not that it makes losing you again any easier."

Kaldur wrapped his arms around the woman and embraced her.

"I am sorry … mother, but it can be no other way. If it is any consolation, we might be stranded here for some time."

The moment was interrupted by the sound of the front door being opened rapidly and slamming into a wall. Releasing his mother, Kaldur turned and recognized the intruder.

"Tula." He greeted her politely as he glanced at Garth. He then empathized with the woman he recognized as his mother as seeing the duplicate of his former lover brought back painful memories to him as well.

The young woman swam up to Kaldur and wrapped her arms and legs around his body while kissing him passionately. At first he became wide eyed but soon melted into her loving embrace, savoring the kisses he had lost back home … to his friend Garth.

"Thank the gods, its true! You have returned from the grave, my love and my betrothed." She wailed as her voice trembled

Kaldur felt lightning shoot down his spine.

_Did she say 'Betrothed'? _

_**-(scene break)-**_

Terra stormed into the lair, a grimace adorning her face. She proceeded straight to the mess hall and opened one of the freezers, from which she retrieved a tub of ice cream, which she began to consume directly from the container with a large spoon.

"Who does that gray bitch think she is?" She grumbled between heaping spoons of the frozen treat.

"I should have just kicked her ass right there. She thinks she's so scary and intimidating, but I'm not afraid of her."

A deep monotone echoed throughout the room.

"You should fear her, Terra. She has become much more powerful since the last time you engaged her."

Terra turned towards the source of the reprimand.

"I know I can take her, Slade. She's just a sad, creepy witch."

"You will need more training to accomplish that, apprentice."

Terra slammed the ice cream tub in the kitchen table.

"I won't wear that suit again. I'd rather be turned back into stone."

Slade picked up the ice cream tub, and examined it before handing it back to the geomancer.

"That won't be necessary. You are now able to fully control your powers. But you won't be fighting Raven, apprentice."

"What? Like hell I won't! You think that I'm gonna let her keep BB?"

"Jealousy does not become you, Terra."

"This isn't about jealousy! I can't let her be BB's girlfriend! She's a monster! She'll use her magic on him, she might even marry him."

"They do seem to be made for each other. They're unconventional, shunned by society and both harbor an inner darkness which they struggle to control."

Terra went bug eyed.

"What the hell are you talking about Slade? BB doesn't have anything dark inside him!"

Slade chucked.

"Don't be so sure of that, apprentice." He picked up a clicker and turned on a huge screen that hung from one of the mess hall walls. Footage of the Beast rampaging through the city played repeatedly on the high definition monitor.

"They have much more in common than you know." He droned in his monotone.

Terra stared mesmerized at the footage.

"Wow … I want to have his babies."

"He is every bit the monster Raven is. If anyone will provide him with offspring, it will be the demoness."

The blond earth bender glared at Slade.

"You're just envious of his powers, Slade. And I am going to fight Raven, and after I kick her sorry gray butt I'm taking BB back."

"He was never yours to begin with, Terra. Why do you think he dismissed you from the hospital?"

Terra gasped.

"H-how did you know?" She stammered.

"I have my ways. Now listen to me, child, you are not going to engage Raven, there will be no fight between the two of you."

Terra crossed her arms as she intensified her glare.

"Then what am I supposed to do to her?"

Slade chucked.

"Isn't it obvious, apprentice?"

"Uh … no!"

Slade patted her on the crown of her head.

"You're going to save her life, Terra."

_**-(scene break)-**_

The doors to the hangar slid open, revealing the cavernous room. The T-Ship was parked in its usual mooring and next to it stood a large white sphere.

"Whoa! What happened to the ship? It was here an hour ago!"

"It's tired, and it's also hungry." M'Gann replied as she walked up to the sphere and began to caress it. Connor stared at her shapely figure, noticing how Starfire's outfit accentuated her feminine curves. He knew that her humanoid shape wasn't her true form, but he didn't care, not one bit whatsoever.

"Whadya mean it's tired and hungry? Are you saying this thing is alive?" Cyborg asked.

Megan sighed.

"She is, and not only is she hungry, she's hurt."

"I guess I could bring some gear and medicine down from the infirmary. What does she eat?"

Megan suddenly looked worried.

"Her diet is organic, but is nothing that is found on Earth. She can't metabolize Earth food."

"Do you have a formula? We might be able to synthesize something for her."

Megan smiled.

"I was hoping you would ask. I have it all here on this datapad."

Cyborg took the PDA from the Martian and studied the formula for a couple of minutes.

"The formula is unusual and it's pretty complex, but I can do it. How much do we need?"

"Can you make 1000 liters?"

"Whoa! 1000 liters? Hmmm… I suppose, but it's gonna take some time to make that much. I can make it in smaller batches. Will that help?"

"The sooner the better. She's in hibernation now, but she'll wake up as soon as she smells her food."

Cyborg grinned.

"And I thought the grass stain's tofu was weird."

"The grass stain?" Connor asked with a growl.

Cyborg then realized his faux pas.

"It's just an affectionate nick name we have for him."

"We?" Superboy asked.

Cyborg rubbed self consciously rubbed his neck.

"Sorry Megan, I didn't mean to offend you."

She beamed back at him.

"I think that nickname is kind of cute." She replied.

Cyborg laughed nervously.

"OK then, well, I'd better get to work in the lab … I should have the first batch of 50 liters ready in 30 minutes …"

Cyborg exited the hangar without saying another word. As the sliding doors closed Connor crossed his arms and frowned.

"Stupid jerk." He muttered. "They think they're so cool because they're independent."

"He did apologize." She remarked timidly. "And maybe we should pay attention to them. We might learn something."

"Like what?"

"Well … they really seem to care about each other, you know, like a family. I mean, look at Robin and Starfire…"

His expression softened when he heard their names.

"They do seem to like each other." He acknowledged. "I know Batman wouldn't approve of that."

"Batman isn't here." She replied.

He rewarded her with a smile.

"Yeah, he isn't … I like that."

Cyborg said that he's coming to visit.

"Great, I'll bet the local one is just as big a jerk as ours."

Megan giggled.

"He probably is." She then paused before continuing. "Connor, you were going to ask me something in the kitchen."

The Kryptonian blushed slightly.

"Yeah, that … uh … well you see … I uh …"

Superboy stopped babbling and stared into Megan's eyes. His super hearing detected that her heart rate had suddenly increased.

"Yes?" She asked, her voice dripping in anticipation.

Superboy leaned forward and planted a long deep kiss on the Martian's lips. After what felt like an eternity they separated … and he bolted.

"I'm sorry Megan, I shouldn't have done that." He muttered as she dashed away, with his eyes closed. He then felt two hands on his chest, pushing back at him as if trying to stop him, which didn't work. He opened his eyes and he saw that is was her.

"I'm sorry, that was … rude. Please forgive me." He apologized.

Megan stared into his eyes, her face so devoid of expression that she could have passed for Raven. She then levitated so that they were eye to eye.

And wrapped her arms around him and kissed him like she had never kissed before.

They were still in each other's arms when Cyborg returned 30 minutes later with the first batch of Martian space ship food.

_**-(scene break)-**_

It was mid-morning the following day and the elevator sliding doors parted open in the common room, revealing Cyborg, Raven and Beast Boy who had just returned from the hospital. Everyone was present in the common room (except for Kaldur, who was still in Atlantis) and they all erupted into raucous applause. The changeling was seated in a wheelchair and still looked weak and tired, but he managed to crack one of his signature grins as the tin man wheeled him into the room. He was surrounded by his fellow superheroes who all began to banter with him. Raven walked out of the elevator and took in the scene in the room. She always felt uncomfortable in crowds and she wandered off into the kitchen to brew some herbal tea. As she was setting up the electric kettle she sensed a now familiar presence behind her.

"Don't bother asking, I didn't." She told the blond archer. "Go ahead and kick my butt."

"I figured as much, so what did you do with him?"

Raven paused before answering.

"I had passionate sex with him." She deadpanned.

Artemis chuckled.

"You do suck at telling jokes. What did you guys really do?"

Raven sighed.

"We talked."

"About?"

"Stuff."

"What kind of stuff?"

"About how we feel for each other."

"And?"

"We agreed to be a couple."

"Really! Raven, I'm proud of you … but wait a minute … you didn't kiss him?"

"He was tired, his pain killers got to him, so he fell asleep. He slept through the night. Speaking of which, he's due for his next dosage."

Raven pushed her way into the crowd. They all knew she spent the night at the hospital with him, and even though Raven's uniquely delivered profession of love had been kept a secret, they could put 2 + 2 together and were all grinning at the sorceress, who ignored them.

"It's time for Beast Boy's medication, after which he will nap. You'll get to see him later at lunch time." She droned in her gravelly monotone as she grabbed the handles of his wheelchair and carted him away. Everyone politely wished Beast Boy a good nap and a quick recovery. Raven wheeled him into the elevator and the doors swished shut. As soon as the elevator doors closed almost all of the boys present in the common room began to make kissing sounds, which were short lived as the females began to slap them on the backside of their heads.

_**-(scene break)-**_

Raven pushed the wheelchair up to the door to Beast Boy's room, which slid open revealing the pigsty that was within. Raven frowned and pushed the wheelchair into the room, navigating through the obstacle course of piles of trash and dirty clothes.

Raven scrunched her nose in disgust and raised her hands, summoning her dark energy. The piles of trash flew off the floor straight into the incinerator chute, while she summoned several empty hampers from his closet, which became stuffed with clothes that flew into them. Beast Boy watched with a grin as a vacuum cleaner materialized and began to clean the carpeted floor while Raven silently summoned a duster and began to tidy up the bookcases and his desk. She finished after a few minutes and opened a window to let some fresh air in. She then turned around and glared at him.

"This is the one and only time I will ever clean your room. If you want me to spend time with you in here, you will keep it clean. Have I made myself clear?"

The green Titan nodded.

"Thanks Rae, I will, I promise."

"Rae?" She frowned and paused. Her expression softened. "OK, you may call me that, but only in private. Understood?"

"Sure, Rae."

She raised her hand and enveloped him in her obsidian light, gently guiding him to his lower bunk, where she deposited him. She then retrieved a glass of water and his bottle of pain killers.

"Time for your medicine." She said in her monotone, and then recalled what Artemis had told her.

"I think it is, I'm starting to feel sore again."

"Which is not surprising as you still have a hole in your chest."

"Yeah, that was kind of dumb."

"You couldn't help it. Johnny Rancid's never used firearms before. If I ever see him again I'll rip his head off."

"Raven, do you think your blue light might help?"

She arched one of her eyebrows.

"I can't fully heal it, but I can probably speed it up."

Raven sat on the edge of the bed and leaned over the wounded changeling, placing her hands over his injury. The healing blue energy appeared and worked its way into the wound. Beast Boy began to moan.

"Oh Rae, that feels good, real good."

Raven continued the healing process for several more minutes, until she finally stopped. Her brow was moist from her sweat.

"That's all I can do for now. How do you feel?"

"A lot better, thanks … you're the best girlfriend in the world."

Raven froze upon hearing those words. She then locked eyes with him and summoning all her courage she leaned forward and pressed her lips to his and they exchanged a timid and shy kiss. She then felt his hand behind her head, gently pulling her in for a deeper kiss. She resisted for a split second, but then found herself melting into his embrace and lied down next to him as they continued to smooch.

A light bulb exploded somewhere in the room.

_**-(scene break)-**_

OK, I apologize, that was the biggest heap of mush I've ever written.


	7. An unwelcome visitor

The waters on the bay shimmered like sparkling diamonds as the orange sun hung low on the horizon, warming the city with its waning amber glow as it slowly began to hide behind the horizon. Meanwhile the bayside boulevard was teeming with rush hour traffic as the local cubicle farm dwellers ground their way home in the relentless stop and go congestion.

TT-Robin stood on the roof's edge, his right leg was propped up on the ledge and he rested his right arm on it as he leaned forward. He sighed as he gazed upon his adoptive home town. Jump City was everything Gotham was not: warm, clean, positive and full of hope.

Hope. It was the reason he chose to move across the country to the sunny west coast city. During his final year as the Dark Knight's sidekick he began to find Gotham oppressive, depressing to the point that it sapped the life from him. The decision to leave, to move on came gradually. At first it was only a whim, a flight of fancy. But halfway through that fateful year, as he was discussing these thoughts with Barbara Gordon he came to realize what his problem really was.

It was Bruce.

Robin later learned that it wasn't just Bruce or Batman, but rather it was the organization above him: The Justice League.

There was no doubt that the League was composed of great superheroes, he had admired the Justice League as far back as his days of circus acrobatics. Every young boy idolized Superman and he had been no exception. And there were the others: The Flash, The Green Lantern, the Martian Manhunter, Aquaman, Wonder Woman and so many others.

And of course him, The Batman. Robin felt suffocated by the Dark Knight and in the end there was really only a single choice that he could make.

The sun was now dipping below the horizon, with only a single small sliver of it still peeking above the ocean, like a cosmic Kilroy, reminding everyone that it had indeed been here. And the dying sun reminded him of the day he told Bruce he was leaving, because after he told his mentor that it was over he felt that a part of him died that day.

Bruce's reaction was as expected: stoic. He tried to reason with Robin on why he should reconsider, on why it was a bad idea. Dick listened politely, impassively as his mind was already made up. Bruce first tried to use the 'he was needed' approach to persuade Robin to stay, but he wasn't having any of it. That was when Bruce made one of the biggest mistakes of his life. He told Dick that he wasn't ready and the he would fail if he struck out on his own.

Something snapped in Robin's mind when those ill chosen words were uttered. Dick couldn't remember exactly how he responded to Bruce's judgment, but they were the last words he had directed at his former mentor. There had been no contact between them since that fateful day.

Robin looked up at the horizon. The sun was gone and twilight was claiming the sky. It was then that he sensed he wasn't alone.

"What's up, Raven?"

"I was about to ask you the same thing. By the way, dinner's ready."

Robin began to make his way to the roof access door.

"Thanks, I lost track of time … how's Beast Boy doing?"

"He's been sleeping all afternoon; his recovery will be slow, but steady."

Raven grabbed the Boy Wonder by his wrist, stopping him in his tracks.

"What's bothering you Robin? I can sense your turmoil."

"It's nothing, Raven."

"Don't lie to me, Robin, I'm not a mind reader like M'Gann but I'm still an empath."

Robin shrugged his shoulders after which Raven narrowed her eyes, frowning as what was bothering him became self evident.

"It's Batman, isn't it. You're dreading his arrival tomorrow morning."

He nodded his affirmation.

"But why, what are you afraid of?"

Robin took Raven's hand and led her to a small couch Cyborg left on the roof, shielded from the elements by an awning. He gestured her to have a seat. Raven delicately sat down on the rooftop sofa and locked eyes with her friend.

The two "birds" had a special relationship. Even though they now both had romantic interests of their own they shared a special bond with each other. They had been mutual confidants since the day Raven entered Robin's mind to try to save him from hallucination trap Slade had left behind. She had learned his deepest secrets that day: how his parents died, his real name and even … Batman's identity.

Robin had never entered Raven's mind, unlike Beast Boy and Cyborg, but she did share some of her deepest secrets with him, including the crush she harbored in secret a long time for the green changeling.

"I'm not sure, Raven."

"He has nothing over us. We're independent, we always have been."

"He's coming on official Justice League business. He didn't say about what in his message, but I already know."

"Our guests."

"Exactly. We never should have allowed Kaldur to visit Aquaman."

"It was his right." She replied.

"I know, but now the League is going to demand that we let them handle this situation."

"Don't you think our guests have a say in the matter?"

"They're going to fold Raven; they won't stand up to the League. Why would they? They were just sidekicks back in their universe. They're used to obeying and kowtowing to the Justice League."

Raven closed her eyes as she pondered the situation for a moment.

"What do you think, Raven?"

She opened her eyes and sighed.

"You aren't going to like what I have to say. Maybe they are better off with the Justice League helping them get home. They have more resources than we do."

Robin leaned back in the couch and groaned his disagreement.

"We don't get any respect from them. They think that we're just a bunch of kids that need a chaperone."

"Robin … we are kids. I just turned 17 and Beast Boy is still 16."

"We can hold our own, Raven, we aren't amateurs."

"Of course we aren't. We're all good enough individually to be League material. But we are just 5 people. There are hundreds of members in the League, Robin. Maybe … we should let them handle this."

"I'm sorry Raven, but I can't just let this go. You saw how they reacted when they learned that we aren't sidekicks. They look up to us. If we fold, they'll be sidekicks for years, if not forever."

"I understand Robin, but that is their battle and not ours. But there's more to this, I can sense it."

Robin sighed.

"I wish he wasn't coming tomorrow."

"Why?"

"Why? In case you've forgotten your boyfriend has a hole in his chest, and it happened under my watch. You just wait and see, Batman's gonna hold that over me as proof that we need 'adult' supervision."

"Who cares what he thinks?" Raven snorted. "I don't."

"BUT I DO!" Robin snapped at her, instantly regretting his outburst,

"I'm sorry Raven, I shouldn't have shouted at you." He quickly apologized.

"Well, at least you've finally told me what's really bothering you."

Raven paused, carefully weighing her next words.

"Robin, you have been our leader from the beginning. Even though there have been a few lapses in judgment along the way, the truth is no one else could have done your job. Not Cyborg, not Starfire and certainly not me."

"What about Beast Boy? He led us back from defeat against the Brotherhood of Evil."

"You know I love him, but he couldn't take your place. You must believe me when I tell you this, we look up to you. I look up to you. You don't have any superpowers and yet it was you who rescued me from Trigon's pit, you gave me the confidence to stand up to my father and defeat him. So don't worry about Batman. We don't care what he says or thinks about you. We know you far better than he does. And Robin … never forget that we're your family."

Robin gave her a grateful smile as Raven's communicator chirped. She flipped it open and saw Cyborg's impatient mug on the screen.

"You find him yet? Cuz dinner's gonna get cold soon."

"We're on our way."

"It about time, and don't worry about the grass … I mean your boy toy … Star already brought him down."

"Thanks Cyborg, I'll teleport us straight into the dining room."

Raven flipped her communicator shut and turned to face Robin.

"Raven, thanks for being the sister I never had."

Raven smiled softly and gave him a hug, which he reciprocated.

"And thanks for being the brother I never had."

As they released each other she swung her cape around them, engulfing the pair in a black hemisphere that sank into the ground and disappeared.

_**-(scene break)-**_

Tula's embrace tightened and she buried her face into Kaldur's shoulder, no longer able to hold back her sobs. He held her gingerly, feeling torn and even confused. It had only been a few weeks ago when he found out that she dumped him, taking up with Garth. The pain of the rejection burned in his chest but he also remembered the resolve with which he handled that emotional letdown. He returned to Mt. Justice and told Batman that he was ready to give 100% to the team. At the time it was easy to make that commitment as he simply wanted to get away from Atlantis, from Garth and most of all … from Tula.

But now the tables had been turned so to speak. As their leader he had a duty to his teammates, a duty to get them home. He wouldn't lie to himself; at that moment there was nothing that he wanted more than to restart his relationship with Tula. Knowing what he had to do, he opened his mouth and uttered the words, the words that would remind everyone of the painful truth, which they all knew, but wished they did not. He gently broke away from her embrace and holding her by the shoulders he gazed into her eyes.

"I am not the Kaldur'ahm from your past."

She closed her eyes and looked away from him as her jaw betrayed a subtle trembling.

"I know … and I don't care. Does it really matter?"

Kaldur closed his eyes and sighed.

"Perhaps it does not. But I have a duty to my team …"

"And what about your duty to me?"

He bit his lip. He dreaded what he was about to say, but she deserved to know the truth.

"Tula, we were not a couple on my world, at least not when I fell into your universe."

She shook her head in disbelief.

"So … you didn't love me?"

"I did, but you did not reciprocate. Back home, you were Garth's girlfriend and not mine."

"So why won't you stay then? Why go back there?" She paused. "There's someone else back there, right?"

"No, there is no one. Tula, we need to return to our universe, we … we do not belong here."

"I disagree." She snapped at him.

Aquaman stepped into the conversation.

"Kaldur'ahm, it is possible that we won't be able to locate your origin, at least not in a timely fashion. Batman performed some simulations. In a worst case scenario, it could take as long as 1000 years to find your universe. It's possible that you and your team might never return to your home."

The news hit Kaldur like a bucket of ice water. He had not entertained the possibility of being stranded permanently in this dimension. The knowledge of that possibility … changed everything.

"Perhaps we should return to the Tower." Garth added.

"I was about to suggest that myself." Aquaman added. "Batman will be visiting the Teen Titans and your team tomorrow. You should be there Kaldur'ahm."

"I agree, we should depart immediately." He then turned to the women. "I am sorry, but I am not who you want me to be. I am but a facsimile of the loved one you lost. I am sorry, but I cannot take his place … at least not at this time."

The two young men took their leave and swam out of the house, heading straight back to the Tower. Tula watched sadly until they disappeared into the ocean's depths and were no longer visible.

_**-(scene break)-**_

It was a brisk morning in Jump City and a windy one as well. Raven had changed into her gala costume, which included pants and faux fur trim on her cape and hood and she was glad as she felt the unseasonably cold chill in the wind that buffeted the Tower's rooftop. Beast Boy was sitting in his wheelchair, wearing a hoodie with the Titans logo over his Doom Patrol costume. Starfire and Cyborg, wearing their usual attire (or in his case, his usual lack of attire) stood next to them, at a deferent distance from the landing pad.

Robin had instructed them on how to behave around the Batman. First of all, no displays of affection. This wouldn't be a problem for Raven, who had yet to even hold hands with her green beau in public. For Starfire, who was very open publicly in her displays of affection, it was going to be pure hell.

Robin, along with Kaldur, stood closer to the landing pad on the rooftop. The Atlantean's team stood closer than any of the other Titans, as they were eager to meet the parallel Batman.

Soon the whine of jet engines filled the air. The Batwing flew around the Tower three times before slowing to a hover and landing gently on the platform. Kaldur noticed that Robin's Adam's Apple bobbed as he swallowed hard. They all remained still as the engines powered down and the two canopies on the Batwing popped open.

Batman emerged from the frontal compartment and jumped to the ground. He was followed by a petite girl who was wearing a light purple costume with a yellow Bat logo on her chest; she was also wearing thigh length dark purple boots, cape and cowl. She performed a handstand in the cockpit after which she flipped twice in the air, landing with the aplomb of an Olympic gymnast.

YJ-Robin approached his elder doppelganger and whispered to him "Who's that?"

"Can't you tell? It's Batgirl."

"I thought Babs was Batgirl."

"That is Babs."

The younger Boy Wonder shook his head in disbelief, as the diminutive girl standing next to the Batwing bore no resemblance to the Barbara Gordon he knew, except for her bright red hair. The elder Robin and Kaldur stepped forward and exchanged the official pleasantries with the Dark Knight and his companions as it began to rain. Robin then suggested that they continue with the introductions inside the Tower.

_**-(scene break)-**_

The walk to the common room was quiet. Kaldur led the way, followed by his team, with young Robin at the rear of the group, walking next to Batman. The iconic figure was clearly recognizable to him, even though the exposed portion of his face differed from the Batman he remembered. Batman glanced at the youngster occasionally, but said nothing.

The Titans walked behind Batman, with Batgirl standing next to the elder Robin. The two exchanged soft whispers. Starfire was on Robin's other side, and she glanced nervously at the spandex clad interloper who appeared to be more familiar with her beloved than she expected, and she felt uncomfortable with the situation. Taking a lesson from Raven's playbook, she kept a stoic look on her face and did not betray her inner discomfort.

Raven and Beast Boy trailed the group. Beast Boy was still wheelchair bound and Raven was in charge of wheeling him around. They had yet to exchange any words with the Dark Knight and his only interaction with them so far had been to give the Chromatically Challenged Couple™ an icy glare, which Raven was quick to return.

Soon the sliding doors parted and the combined group entered the common room. Batman walked to the middle of the room and the young heroes gathered around him. Older Robin then cleared his throat.

"Batman, I'd like to introduce you to the Teen …"

"I know who the Teen Titans are: Princess Koriand'r of Tamaran, Victor Stone of Metropolis, Garfield Logan from the Doom Patrol and Rachel Roth of Azarath."

He turned to the four Titans and their leader.

"I didn't come here to tell Robin how to run his team, not that he would listen to me. I see that young Mister Logan is injured and wheelchair bound while also entangled in a romantic relationship with the demoness. Meanwhile, my former protégé is also engaged in a romantic relationship, but with a subordinate. I'm afraid that the only one I find no fault with here is Mr. Stone."

"Raven is not a demoness." Beast Boy challenged the Dark Knight.

"If you wish to split hairs, Mr. Logan, then fine, she's a half demoness. Date her at your own risk young man."

Beast Boy growled as he began to rise out of his wheelchair, the anger was clearly boiling in his eyes. Raven placed a comforting hand on his shoulder and gently guided him back down to his seat.

"As I said, I'm not here to see the Teen Titans." He continued as he addressed the visitors. "I've come to see you, members of the Young Justice League."

He paused as he sized up the 6 young superheroes.

"You are trapped in this dimension and unfortunately we are still uncertain of your point of origin. Let me reassure you that we are working around the clock to resolve this problem. Unfortunately we can't predict when, if ever, we will be able to send you home."

"Batman, we thank you and local Justice League for your offer of assistance, which we accept. The Teen Titans have invited us to join them as Honorary Titans. We have also been offered to stay here at the Tower until we are ready to return to our home dimension." Kaldur replied.

"Kaldur'ahm, being that you and your team are junior members of the Justice League, unlike the Teen Titans, we expect you to stay with the Justice League. We will resume your training and provide you with the supervision that you require as teenagers. Nothing against the Titans, but you will be far better off being supervised and mentored by the Justice League than staying … here."

"Do we have say in this?" Artemis asked, her arms crossed in a defiant gesture.

"You do, but weigh your choice carefully. A shuttle is scheduled to come and collect you tomorrow morning."

The 6 teenagers responded with blank stares.

"I will see you tomorrow morning. Come Batgirl, it's time for us to leave."

Barbara waved goodbye to Robin as she followed her mentor into the elevator, which whisked them away back to the roof where the Batwing awaited.

"What a jerk!" Beast Boy howled. "I almost like Slade better than him."

"At least Slade respects us." Raven added.

As if on cue, the Tower alarms began to blare. Starfire was closest to the console and quickly began to type.

"The city is under attack by thousands of Robots."

"Thousands of robots?" Kaldur asked. "Who has that many robots?"

"Slade!" Robin growled as he slammed his fist into his palm.

_**-(scene break)-**_


	8. Robots everywhere

_**-(scene break)-**_

The Tamaranian continued typing furiously at the primitive console, which was based on backward Earth based technology. She never complained to her teammates about how inefficient the computer system was as she did not wish to hurt Cyborg's feelings since he designed the system and instead compensated by typing at a superhuman speed that was a function of both her alien physiology as well as her non human brain. The princess was more than a pretty face, that much was certain. She quickly spawned several tactical algorithms which would hopefully recommend the best way to confront the swarm of robots. After spawning off those processes she then turned to identifying the source of the invasion. As she expected, they were emerging from an underground cavern near the outskirts of the city.

"There are 3428 robots." She announced. "Sensors indicate that they are each powered via a Xenothium fuel cell."

A collective gasp echoed through the common room.

"Starfire, are you serious? Those robots are powered by Xenothium?" M'Gann asked. "Xenothium was outlawed almost two thousand years ago on Mars."

The Tamaranian continued to tap on the keyboard as she assiduously studied the console's display.

"According to our sensors, each robot has only a few grams of Xenothium in its fuel cell. Also, there is no doubt as to who they belong: as Robin already guessed, they are Slade-bots."

TT-Robin and Kaldur stepped up to tactical console that was next to the operations console where Starfire was standing. After a few taps the giant TV screen became a tactical display, showing a map of the city ,where the Slade-bots were located and which way they were heading. They were represented by tiny dots on the screen and scurried around like ants emerging from a nest.

"They're splitting up into seven groups … the first group is headed towards City Hall, the second group is swarming the university campus, the other groups are targeting the central park, the airport, the local stadium, the bay bridge and the central hospital." Robin announced.

"That doesn't make any sense!" Superboy bellowed. "There's nothing of value at any of those places."

"They all have one thing in common, crowds of people." M'Gann added.

Starfire gasped.

"The robots have begun to fire at the civilians at the University. Why is Slade doing this?" The princess asked.

"Deathstroke is trying to draw us out of the Tower. He is trying to separate us so that we cannot fight together." Kaldur added. "We are being led into a trap."

"Someone is already fighting the robots." Starfire announced.

"Of course! Batman and Batgirl!" YJ-Robin interjected.

"Yes, they are already at the university campus, but there is someone else, near City Hall … how strange…"

"What is it Starfire?" Artemis asked.

"I believe that it is Terra … she is battling the robots near city hall."

Beast Boy was still seated in his wheelchair and stood up when he heard the name of the blond geomancer.

"She's fighting them?" He asked.

"Hang on; I'll tap into the security cameras at City Hall." Cyborg announced.

Robin and Kaldur stepped aside and allowed Cyborg access to the console. After a few key strokes several cameras came online on the giant screen and they had several views around Jump City's gleaming civic center. They visually scanned each view, searching for a visual that would confirm that it was indeed Terra who was engaging the robots. Within a few moments their perseverance paid off, as Terra's image appeared on one of the cameras.

She was wearing a tan colored unitard which highlighted her now mature figure, the stick figured girl Beast Boy had fallen in love with was now gone and had been replaced by a very shapely young woman. She was engaging the robots with a fury that was familiar to the Titans. They also noticed that she was much more skilled than when they last encountered her in battle. She was faster and physically stronger and the control she had over her powers was enviable as she was able to vanquish platoon after platoon of robots while either dodging their laser shots or blocking them with a stony shield she would summon almost effortlessly as she surfed the wind on a slab of charcoal gray granite she had peeled off the side of a nearby building.

"That's Terra alright; wow she's even better than she used to be." Beast Boy announced.

"I want someone to volunteer to help Terra." Robin asked.

"I'll do it! She's hot!" YJ-Robin volunteered.

"Is that all boys can think of?" Raven snarled at the younger Boy Wonder, who merely shrugged his shoulders and grinned in reply.

"I'm a guy, so sue me!"

"Oh never mind. I'll take care of Terra myself." She finally volunteered.

"Are you sure Raven?" TT-Robin asked her. "Is that a good idea? You and Terra, well, let's just say you two don't get along."

The gray sorceress glared at her leader, once again with an intensity that sent chills down the spines of the members of the Young Justice team, who were now aware that Raven was part demon.

"I'll be fine Robin." She replied in her monotone.

She then turned to face her beau.

"Gar, don't do anything stupid while I'm gone, and sit down before you get lightheaded, you aren't close to being healed yet."

After the changeling complied with her order Raven phased into the floor and vanished, rematerializing outside the Tower, making a bee line as she flew towards the civic center.

Artemis leaned over to YJ-Wally.

"She wants to check out her competition." She whispered to him.

"But Beast Boy said he wasn't interested in Terra." Wally replied.

"And you believe that?"

"Uh … yeah … why wouldn't I?"

"Cuz he's a guy and Terra is … you heard what our Robin said."

"I think he likes Raven."

"You just don't have a clue, do you Wally?"

Robin and Starfire began to hand out the assignments the new computer algorithm prepared.

"We're going to team up in pairs. I can't tell you enough to be careful. It appears that the laser pistols the Slade-bots have are more powerful than ever. Also, time is of the essence, as they are attacking civilians without mercy. And Kaldur's right, it's probably a trap, so keep your eyes open." Robin announced before turning to the green Titan who was once again seated in his wheelchair.

"Beast Boy, you keep an eye on the tactical console and let us know if anything happens."

The green lad nodded his affirmation and wheeled himself to the workstation.

Robin then turned to face his temporarily expanded team.

"Titans Go!"

_**-(scene break)-**_

Raven flew as fast as she could as she shot like a missile through the air, her purple locks and cape buffeted by the wind. As she flew over the bay she could see more Slade-bots surging over the bay bridge, firing their pistols at the terrified crowds who were fleeing on foot, leaving their traffic jam stranded vehicles behind. For a split second she was tempted to abandon Terra and help the civilians on until she saw Starfire flying to the bridge, carrying Superboy under his arms as his legs dangled below. Satisfied that the two aliens would be able to handle the situation on the bridge she pushed on, flying even faster than before.

It didn't take Raven long to reach the downtown area and she was soon able to see the massive and modern City Hall complex as she approached its location. Even from several blocks away she could see that things were amok in the city's Civic Center. The flashing lights from dozens of police cars could be seen as well as billowing black smoke that was pouring out of the building. As she approached she discerned the damage that the building had endured as well as those around it. The scene was a battle zone as the police tried to repel the nearly 500 robots that were attacking the location.

Raven looked for Terra but was unable to locate her. Instead she saw a civilian sprawled on a sidewalk and dove down to assist the injured pedestrian. Raising a black hemisphere she shielded herself from the barrage of bullets and laser fire that surrounded her. Kneeling down she inspected the civilian, who otherwise being bruised and unconscious was basically unharmed.

Howling a battle cry she became airborne and engaged the sea of Slade-bots that flooded the streets. Using her dark energy she tossed, crushed, impaled, slashed and demolished robot after robot. The police began to cheer while they continued firing at the Slade-bots with their puny side arms. The robots ignored the police and instead focused on the gray, flying sorceress.

After eliminating almost half of the droids Raven was beginning to feel fatigued. It was then that she heard a call for help. She turned and saw its source: a young mother and her two children were trapped under a pile of rubble, and their situation looked precarious.

Darting over in their direction Raven landed next to them and using her obsidian powers she delicately began to unbury the woman and her two children, wrapping each piece of debris with her dark energy. She also kept a shield up to shield herself and the trapped family from the laser fire, which repeatedly bounced off her protective shield.

In just over a minute the woman and her children were freed. She thanked Raven repeatedly, and the gray Titan instructed her to take her family out of harm's way. As they ran to safety Raven returned her gaze to the battlefield, with the dark shield still standing between her and the fracas on the street. She was feeling winded and was giving herself a moment to recharge before returning to the battle, and that was when she didn't see it.

The eyes on one of the Slade-bots she had sliced in half began to glow as a backup power source kicked in. The droid had no legs as it had been slashed at the waist, but it did not need them. Still clutching its laser pistol in its mechanical hand it raised it, aimed at Raven's back and pulled the trigger.

Raven felt as if her spine was encased in ice. She lost all sensation in both her arms and legs, which now refused to obey her will, and she collapsed onto the sidewalk. She was also unable to summon her powers and was unable to break her fall; she hit her head on the concrete surface and began to blackout. Summoning all of her willpower she managed to stay lucid, even though her vision was blurry. Slowly, the world came back into focus, and she heard the sound of metallic footsteps approaching from behind her. She willed her limbs to move, but they continued in their refusal to obey her. The footsteps finally reached her and stopped behind her. She then felt a vise like grip around her right ankle and was lifted into the air, upside down, with her arms and left leg flopping around as if she were a rag doll.

She was now facing her assailant, which as she expected was a Slade-bot. The droid was holding her with its left hand while it clutched a laser pistol in its right. Raven could see that it was set to full power, and was not set to stun as the pistol she had been shot with was. Raven braced herself for what she expected to be her point blank execution.

The Slade-bot instead holstered its weapon. Of course, she was more valuable to Slade as a hostage she reasoned. Then the droid reached for its leg.

And drew a large and vile looking dagger.

_**-(scene break)-**_

The scene at the airport was pure mayhem. The security guards were no match for mechanized warriors that were terrorizing the passengers and staff at the main concourse of the terminal. They fired indiscriminately, mowing down everyone in sight, including children.

Kid Flash shot into the terminal carrying Artemis, who he quickly lowered to the floor.

"What can we do? There's so many of them." Artemis howled as she began to shoot arrows at the invading horde. "I'm gonna run out of arrows!"

"They can't shoot if they don't have pistols!" Wally shouted as he disappeared into the throng. Within seconds he returned with an armful of laser pistols, which he unceremoniously dropped into a trash can.

The two heroes continued with their tactics of disarming and attacking. Soon Artemis ran out of arrows. She retrieved a laser pistol from the trash and with a grimace on her face began to fire it at the robots.

As if of a single mind, the remaining Slade-bots changed their strategy and withdrew from the terminal. The two heroes gave chase and followed the 200 hundred or so surviving robots, which fled to the tarmac area right outside the boarding gates. The robots ran under a parked jumbo jet and the two YJs followed them. As they ran under the plane they heard a beeping sound, which quickly increased in frequency. Wally turned and saw a single Slade-bot, which was hiding behind the jet's landing gear. Its eyes flashed red at the same tempo as the beeping.

Without saying a word Wally scooped Artemis in his arms and began to run. Within a split second the droid exploded and the jet exploded with it. The two heroes tumbled from the shockwave, which smashed every window in the terminal.

_**-(scene break)-**_

Kaldur and Garth were assigned to the stadium. The new sports complex was built on an island in the bay, and was accessible only by bridge. The two Atlanteans jumped into the bay and caught a ride with two dolphins Garth had already summoned.

The living torpedoes whisked the two men from Titans Island to Stadium Island in just a few minutes. They came ashore on the stadium side of the bridge and just in time as the raiding mass of robots was beginning to cross the bridge.

"They are so many. Do you have any ideas?" Kaldur asked.

"Let's fight them in our element!"

Garth gestured with his arms and a huge wave formed on the left side of the bridge. As it crashed over it swept every single Slade-bot off the bridge and into the bay.

"Well that was easy." The dark haired Aqualad crowed in triumph.

His victory was short lived, as the entire phalanx of robots began to emerge from the bay, walking onto the stadium shore, their pistols ready to fire.

"I guess we will have to do this the hard way." Kaldur calmly remarked as he drew his own weapons.

_**-(scene break)-**_

Starfire deposited Connor on the bridge's surface while she flew on. At first she blanketed the droids with her starbolts and she got closer she began to pummel then with her fists as she continued to fly like an orange and purple missile.

Superboy got to work, his own fists were kept busy as he smashed robot after robot with his mighty hands. He occasionally glanced over and watched the Tamaranian with admiration and envy, as he was still flightless. He could tell that she was a remarkable young woman. And, he had to admit, far prettier than either Megan or Artemis.

Unfortunately for the two heroes, the Slade-bots were not interested in fighting them, and for good reason, the droids wouldn't have lasted long against the two super powered heroes. They were focused on destroying the bridge, and were unfortunately doing a great job.

"Starfire! There are still people on the bridge, lots of people! They're going to fall into the bay."

"Yes, I am aware of our predicament. We must buy the civilians some more time."

Superboy watched as the Slade-bots were cutting the cables that held up the city's signature suspension bridge with their lasers.

"How do we do that?" He shouted as he smashed another robot with his fists.

"I do not know." Was her reply.

_**-(scene break)-**_

We still have Cyborg/Megan and Robin/Robin to cover. But that will have to wait until next time, along with Raven, Wally and Artemis' fates.


	9. Fighting back

The R-Cycle zoomed out of the access tunnel, like a red torpedo, and after merging into traffic on the bayside boulevard it began to weave between the traffic, expertly piloted at speeds well in excess of 100 mph. Motorists did double takes, not because they had never seen Robin on his signature custom motorcycle. Seeing the Boy Wonder zoom across the city had become a common sight over the years, just as seeing Cyborg driving the T-Car or watching the female Titans or Beast Boy fly overhead. What was unusual about the sight was that there were TWO Robins riding on the speedy two wheeler.

YJ-Robin wasn't too happy at that moment, and it wasn't just because he wasn't driving the awesome machine. The truth of the matter was … it was the helmet he was wearing.

TT-Robin always wore his signature helmet with the ubiquitous "R" logo on it when he piloted his crotch rocket. The problem was that at the time Robin had only one helmet, which meant that YJ-Robin had to wear … Starfire's helmet, which was a pink affair with 'Hello Kitty' stickers on it.

This was beyond humiliating for the younger Boy Wonder, who resigned himself to wearing the emasculating piece of headgear to comply with both the law and Titan rules. He sighed, and wishing to take his mind off of his predicament he tapped on the intercom button, summoning his doppelganger.

"What?" TT-Robin tersely answered the summoning.

"So what's with you and Starfire? Is she really your girlfriend? You seem to ignore her a lot."

"Of course she is. What kind of question is that?"

"Relax, I'm just curious."

"And so is the local press, they're always asking if Star and I are a couple."

"And you tell them to buzz off, right?"

"You don't expect us to give interviews?"

The R-Cycle banked sharply as it turned onto Murakami Avenue.

"You mean you don't even brag? I would."

"And that's why you don't have a girlfriend!" TT-Robin retorted.

The younger Robin chortled.

"What's so funny?"

"You're just like Bruce. So proper and stuck up."

"I'm nothing like him!" TT-Robin snarled.

"Yeah right … say, was Bruce on the money about you and Starfire 'knocking knees'?"

Robin slammed on the brakes, bringing the R-Cycle to a screeching halt. He turned and glared at his younger self.

"What did you say?"

The younger and far more irreverent Boy Wonder grinned.

"You heard me. So are you banging her or not?"

"What do you think?" He snarled in reply.

Younger Robin was now laughing.

"Nope, you're way too uptight."

TT-Robin frowned before putting his bike back into gear and taking off. After a long, silent minute they reached the hospital. It was the city's oldest and biggest healthcare facility, an old fashioned brick structure that had grown in an apparently haphazard and random fashion over the decades. Screams could be heard coming from inside the building.

TT-Robin drove the R-Cycle through the building's main entrance; its sliding doors were already a mangled heap. The hospital lobby was crawling with Slade-bots, who focused their attention on the two boys and began to fire at them.

The boys leapt out of the way of the shots while extending their collapsible bo staffs. In a performance with the grace, elegance and precision of ballet troop they counter attacked the robots, who in spite of their now improved electronic brains were no match for the two Boy Wonders whose staffs, kicks and even punches found their targets and one by one the Slade-bots were felled, like trees falling helplessly to a lumberjack's chain saw.

Soon the lobby was silent and was littered with the remains of about 50 to 60 Slade-bots. The two young men savored their interim victory.

"We work well together, don't we?" YJ-Robin commented.

"We should, Starfire's computer simulation said we would."

The younger boy grinned.

"So on top of being a hottie; she's also smart. Who would have thought?"

"Don't let her outward personality fool you. She's also brave and fierce."

"So are you gonna let her get away, the way Bruce lost Selina."

"Why do you keep comparing me to him?"

"Why did you become so serious? And what happened between the two of you?"

"Why aren't you more serious?" TT-Robin snarled back at him. "As for what happened between us, if anyone should know or understand, it would be you."

Before YJ-Robin could answer more laser shots echoed down the hallway followed by terrified screams.

"We'll talk about this later." The older Boy Wonder commanded as they both took off running down the hall, bird-a-rangs in hand.

It was going to be a long afternoon at the hospital.

_**-(scene break)-**_

The T-Car was also tearing down the bayside avenue, travelling in the opposite direction from the two Robins. It wasn't rush hour so like Robin with his crotch rocket; Cyborg was able to weave the ubiquitous blue and white sedan through the light traffic, exceeding the posted speed limit by over 50 miles per hour. The police scanner the tin man had installed in the car was turned on and the initial reports were not encouraging. The local Scout-o-rama was being held at the city's central park, with thousands of people in attendance. People were trying to flee in their cars and a massive traffic jam had formed as everyone tried to escape at once, making vehicular access to the park all but impossible as all lanes were packed with cars as terrified drivers were resorting to driving in the opposite direction in the lanes that led into the park.

The T-Car exited the bayside boulevard via an off ramp that fed into the older two lane road that led into the heart of the park. As reported on the scanner, all lanes were being used to flee the park. Seeing the tidal wave of cars leaving the park he quickly pulled over.

"Can you carry me the rest of the way M'Gann?"

The green girl nodded in the affirmative and taking Cyborg's mechanical hands she lifted him into the air and they resumed their approach to the park.

The scene that greeted them there was similar to the others that were happening around the city. Approximately 500 Slade-bots were terrorizing everyone who was present and the park was littered with the supine forms of the robots' first victims.

"There are so many of them." Megan moaned as they approached the horrific scene.

In addition to the injured civilians the fairgrounds had been decimated. Tents were roaring in flames, the midway rides were wrecked and the robots continued to spread their mayhem in an almost random fashion, shooting and flipping vehicles over.

"Just remember, they're robots. Try to be unpredictable, you know, random, and that should throw them off. Then hit them as hard as you can, they look stronger than Slade's older stuff. And whatever you do, don't get shot! I'll take this end and you go to the other, we'll sandwich them that way."

Megan deposited Cyborg on a field at the south end of the park and resuming flight she sped off to the north side of the complex. As she became airborne she saw that the tin man had converted both of his hands into sonic cannons and was firing away. The Slade-bots were sturdier than the last time the Titans fought Slade's mechanical legions and while his cannons were taking them down it was plain to see that it wasn't easy.

As the Martian made her way towards the other end of the park she was targeted by other robots, barely able to dodge their deadly lasers. She needed a weapon with which to counterattack the seemingly endless hoard and quickly found it.

A school bus was overturned and a quick mental scan determined that it was empty. Using her telekinesis powers she threw the bus into the throng of robots, rolling it like a log over dozens of the attackers. Much to her chagrin less than half of the robots were destroyed and they rose from the ground, unfazed and resumed firing at her.

Megan then tried a new tactic. Focusing her mental energy on a single robot, she scanned it for its Xenothium fuel cell, and found it in the android's torso. Using her telekinesis she increased the reaction mixture, which caused the cell to overload and explode. The detonation not only blew the robot to smithereens, it also took down several nearby robots as well.

The remaining robots then concentrated their fire on the airborne Martian, who shrouded herself using her invisibility powers and resumed her tactic of overloading fuel cells. She could hear Cyborg's sonic cannons still firing and an occasional 'booyah' would echo through the park.

As Megan destroyed more and more robots their density on the ground decreased which lowered her kill rate per fuel cell detonation. She continued with her tactic even as fatigue set in. The remaining robots, which now numbered around 100 at her end of the park, kept taking random shots in the air, hoping to find their target via serendipity. At first Megan was able to dodge the shots with ease, but as she tired she soon found it increasingly difficult to stay clear of the lasers.

It wasn't long until one of them found its mark. She was hit in the left shoulder and felt as if her arm was encased in ice as she lost all feeling. She quickly sought shelter behind a brick wall as she tried to nurse her paralyzed arm.

The screams in the park had almost died out as their two pronged attack had bought the Scout-o-rama attendees enough time to escape. An occasional sonic cannon blast would occasionally resonate across the city's commons.

Megan quickly came to the conclusion that her arm wasn't going to become functional anytime soon and decided to rejoin the battle in her handicapped state. Resuming her state of invisibility she once again took to the air and was surprised by what she saw.

The park was littered with the wreckage of hundreds of destroyed Slade-bots and she watched in amazement as the remaining droids self destructed. She landed on the field and dropped her shroud of invisibility. Still confused she searched for Cyborg and saw him approach her. One of his bionic forearms was completely destroyed.

"Cyborg, are you OK?" She asked as she clutched her still limp arm.

"It's not as bad as it looks. Don't worry; I've got spare parts back at the Tower. What I was worried about was running out of juice. I came pretty close."

"Why did they self destruct?"

"You mean you didn't do that?" He asked.

She shook her head.

"They did that by themselves, Cyborg."

He let out a deep sigh.

"He's done that before, but I've never seen so many self destruct. I don't get it."

As the two heroes caught their collective breaths, the sound of sirens approaching the park could be heard.

"We're done here Megan and you're hurt. Let's get you back to the infirmary."

_**-(scene break)-**_

Raven had never felt so helpless before. She was dangling upside down like a rag doll, paralyzed and her powers wouldn't respond. The razor sharp dagger gleamed in the sunlight. She knew that the end for her was near. As a Titan she had mentally prepared herself for death, she knew that super heroes were neither infallible nor immortal, and that sometimes the unlucky ones would roll snake eyes. Nonetheless her mind began to race. She began to lament all the life events she would never experience: marriage, having children and perhaps someday retiring to a normal civilian life, if that was even possible for a gray skinned, violet haired demoness. She wondered what life might have been like with him, assuming that their relationship would have progressed that far, which of course now it was self evident that she would never get that chance.

She kept looking for a solution, a way to escape, but found none. All she could hope for now was a quick and painless death, but the Slade-bot was aiming the dagger at her navel. It was going to eviscerate her, so she knew that quick and painless were out.

She stared at the dagger, waiting for it to claim her life when she heard a loud crash. Everything became a blur as the robot released her and she fell head first to the ground. The pain of the blow to her head as she hit the ground was excruciating, but she did not black out. As she fell she saw that the Slade-bot had been impaled by what appeared to be a stone spear, and the droid twisted on the ground, quivering as relays and servos malfunctioned inside its body, until finally it stopped moving.

Suddenly a figure loomed over Raven. Pushing her long blond hair out of her face, she smirked at the sorceress. Raven blinked at her in reply.

"Lucky for you I was here to save your sorry gray butt, Raven."

Terra then disappeared from Raven's line of vision and she heard the battle resume, the sounds of Slade-bots being destroyed systematically echoed throughout the downtown area, until the sound of a myriad of simultaneous deafening explosions was heard. Within a minute Terra was back and she began to rifle though Raven's jeweled utility belt.

The sorceress couldn't even frown at the geomancer for invading her privacy, as she kept some personal items in her belt, including a small picture that Starfire had taken of her and Beast Boy at the Mayor's Civic Ball that had been held just a month before. Terra found the picture and smirked.

"You don't look half bad when you wear a real dress, Raven." The blond taunted her before putting the photo back.

Terra then extracted Raven's communicator. She flipped it open and keyed up Beast Boy's channel. As soon as his face appeared on the screen he could not mask his surprise.

"Where's Raven! You're using her communicator, Terra."

"Calm down lover."

"I'm not your lover! What have you done with Raven? Where is she? I saw her get shot on the city cameras, but I lost the signal after that."

"What did I do to her? I saved her sorry butt! But she's hurt, so get the infirmary ready, I'm bringing her in."

"Bring her through the rooftop door, I'll buzz you in." He replied.

Terra flipped the communicator shut, and picked Raven up bridal style. She then summoned her granite surfboard and after hopping on she commanded it to take them to the Tower.

_**-(scene break)-**_

It was three hours later and the teams were literally licking their wounds as they sat in the common room. With the exception of Kid Flash and Artemis all of the teams had a similar experience. Once the heroes achieved dominance on the battlefield the Slade-bots self destructed.

Robin paced in front of the giant TV screen, which was showing the local evening news. It was muted, but audio was not necessary as all they were showing was footage from all the different confrontations around the city. The damage caused by the Slade-bots was staggering while the local hospitals were packed to the gills with the injured. The Central Hospital was so damaged that it had to be evacuated, adding to the other hospitals' burdens.

The Boy Wonder surveyed the assembled groups of heroes before him. With the exception of Starfire and Superboy everyone else was injured. Wally had an arm in a sling; both Robins had bandages covering their lacerations. Artemis sprained her ankle when she was knocked over by the jumbo jet explosion and had a few burns on her arms. Miss Martian also had her arm in a sling. The two Atlanteans looked bruised and bloodied. Cyborg had replaced his damaged forearm, but also looked beat up. Raven was confined to her own wheelchair. She was now able to move her arms but her legs still felt as if they were made of Jell-O, and her powers were still AWOL.

And then there was Terra, who had managed to stay with the Titans since bringing Raven to the Tower. Cyborg was able to locate some footage of what had happened to Raven at City Hall, and the assembled heroes saw how close Raven came to buying the farm.

Taking inventory of his injured team Robin felt his heart sink. Batman would be showing up tomorrow morning and he would see a Tower full of disabled superheroes.

This was the Boy Wonder's worst nightmare coming true. Batman was going to hold this over him as proof that he wasn't ready to lead a team of superheroes, to remind him that they were still sidekicks. And there was nothing he could say to refute him. Had the Justice League been there, none of this would have happened.

He locked eyes with Raven. She subtly shook her head, letting him know that she knew what he was thinking and that she disagreed with him.

After taking a deep breath, Robin finally spoke up.

"You should all be proud of yourselves. Defeating that many Slade-bots is unheard of. Unfortunately, I'm afraid that Slade accomplished his goal. Raven has joined Beast Boy on our disabled list and the rest of the combined team also got pretty beat up."

Robin then gazed in Terra's direction.

"Terra, I want to thank you for saving Raven's life. I know we still have our doubts about you, but we are all grateful for what you did."

Terra beamed triumphantly as she glanced over at Raven, who remained stoic and said nothing. It wasn't clear if Terra was expecting any recognition beyond Robin's words, but none was offered. Neither applause nor a single 'atta-girl' was heard.

At that moment the sliding doors opened and Batgirl entered the common room, carrying 15 pizza boxes which towered over her. As she glided down the stairs it was evident that she was uninjured, which only served to rub salt into Robin's open wound of pride and self esteem.

"I thought you guys might be hungry, so I brought some pizza." She announced cheerfully, with a hint of insecurity in her voice.

Robin smiled. Babs hadn't changed one bit. While she could stare down villains like the Joker or Poison Ivy she was still insecure when she was with her peers. She was also still wearing what Robin thought was an unstylish costume. He had told her on more than one occasion to ditch the purple costume that looked like a dress and trade up to something … more flattering.

"Thanks Batgirl, I think you were reading our minds. Where's Batman?" Robin replied.

"He's off doing some justice league business, and he gave me the night off. So here I am."

_**-(scene break)-**_

After dinner was consumed Robin and Batgirl left the common room together which did not go unnoticed by Starfire. She watched them, out of the corner of her eye, as they entered the elevator. She frowned as she caught Batgirl hooking her arm into Robin's as the door slid shut.

"Looks like your Babs is pretty friendly with your Robin." The younger Boy Wonder remarked to the princess.

"Who is this 'Babs' you speak of?"

The lad chuckled.

"It's just a nickname we have for Batgirl. Say Starfire, would you like to go outside, you know, for a walk? The moon is out tonight." He asked hopefully.

"Do not be the stupid." Was her only reply as she flew out of the room.

He shrugged his shoulders.

"Oh well, it was worth a try." He consoled himself.

_**-(scene break)-**_

Robin and Batgirl were standing together on the Tower's rooftop, taking in the nighttime view of the city's skyline, which twinkled like a giant Christmas tree. There was almost no traffic on the bayside avenue as most residents were still barricaded in their homes, afraid to venture out of their cocoons out of fear that more Slade-bots would appear to terrorize the city again.

Robin sighed before speaking.

"Go ahead Babs, lay it on me. What did Batman say about how we performed today?"

The Gotham redhead shrugged her shoulders.

"You know him, he doesn't say much."

"Why do you think I left?"

"I know, you told me back then."

"So what do you think Babs? About today, about the Titans."

It was her turn to sigh.

"I'm gonna be honest. You guys did OK, but you could have done better. Don't get me wrong, sometimes you need luck on your side, but you know Bruce, he doesn't believe in luck. But I think we were lucky. Bruce was visiting a college professor, so we were already at the University campus when the Slade-Bots attacked; it made a big difference as they weren't expecting us to be there, especially not two members of the Batclan."

Robin frowned. If there was one thing he agreed with Bruce on it was that good luck was made and not found.

"I should resign and let Cyborg take over." He moaned.

"Don't be silly Dick. You've done a great job with the Titans, or would you rather still be a sidekick like me?"

"Really? Thanks Babs, you have no idea of how much that means to me."

Barbara leaned over and after hugging him she gave Robin a chaste peck on the lips, which left him wide eyed.

"For old time's sake." She giggled.

Suddenly a loud crash was heard, coming from behind them. As they turned they were greeted by two green eyes that glowed in the dark. Starfire had been watching them, and tripped over an exposed pipe as she backed away from them.

Robin jumped to his feet and ran to the Tamaranian, who turned around and flew away.

"Star! Wait! It's not what you think!"

The princess ignored his pleas and disappeared into the nighttime sky.

Barbara placed a hand on his shoulder.

"I'm so sorry, Dick."

Robin fell to his knees.

"And I thought that things couldn't get worse."

_**-(scene break)-**_

So a bit of Boy Wonder angst to end the chapter.

Also, if you haven't figured it out, I'm using the version of Batgirl from "The Batman" TV show. The only thing I haven't quite got down with her yet is her wise cracking attitude.


	10. Babs and Starfire

The sound of gears echoed relentlessly in Terra's ears as she returned to the lair. Always the gears, it was pure torture to hear them, worse than being water boarded. It was a reminder of the futility of her life, an existence that did little more than grind the joy out of her soul, leaving her as a dried out husk. She knew better than ask him to shut it down, because he owned her, and not just because of the ring.

Terra knew that she didn't deserve happiness in her life, because she was a wretch. How else could she describe herself, she had tried to murder the only boy she ever loved. You couldn't get much lower than that, she reasoned, and on more than one occasion she was tempted to removed the ring and destroy it even if that meant she would turn back into stone.

The only thing that stopped her was the sliver of hope that she could win him back from the gray witch. 'How hard could it be?' She asked herself. What could her Beast Boy possibly see in the demoness?

Yes, she thought, her Beast Boy. She might not ever be happy, but he would be hers again someday.

"Did you bring back a sample, apprentice?"

Terra snapped out of her funk and looked up into Slade's masked face.

"I found out what they feed it." She replied as she handed him a vial.

Beast Boy had sent her to retrieve some supplies for the infirmary after she had arrived with the then still paralyzed Raven. The geomancer took a quick detour to the hanger, where as Slade had predicted the alien ship was stored. She quickly found the nutrient tank with its feeding log, a clipboard attached to the tank via a chain. She quickly poured a sample into a vial she kept in her utility belt. She had been tempted to take another sample from the now egg shaped ship, but Slade told her that now was not the time.

"Well done. I will analyze it. Once we can produce our own nutrients you will procure a tissue sample from the ship."

"And how am I going to do that, Slade? I wasn't exactly welcome at the Tower."

Slade poured a few drops of the nutrient into a test tube, which he then loaded into a spectrometer.

"Patience apprentice, they will soon be asking for your help. Oh, and your interaction with Raven, well done. I know that there is nothing you would rather do more than terminate her, but now is not the time. She and Beast Boy will be sidelined for some time, and once Batman takes the inter-dimensional visitors away … well … let's just say that things will become interesting for Robin."

_**-(scene break)-**_

It was almost midnight as the R-Cycle pulled back into the Titan's garage, and its two passengers wearily dismounted off of the two wheeled mechanical stallion. They had covered the city from end to end, corner to corner, scaling every building, inspecting every alley. They had called out to her repeatedly using the communicator, but she had turned it off. After searching for her for over 5 hours they had conceded defeat.

Barbara knew what Robin was thinking, that Starfire had fled to Tamaran and that he would never see her again. He told her once, via email, about how Starfire had secretly quit the team when she thought she was being replaced by her sister. Babs wondered how a warrior princess could have so little self esteem. But she also knew that the Tamaranian was almost as strong as Supergirl and ten times as jealous. She realized that it could have been worse: she also recalled Robin's missive about how Starfire attacked a local villain name 'Kitten' who had tried to steal Robin from her.

"I'm sure she'll come back, Dick. I'm really sorry … about everything."

"Dammit, and Bruce is going to be back tomorrow morning."

"Don't worry about it Dick, if he says anything, I'll take the blame."

Robin snorted his displeasure.

"He lets you get away with everything, Babs."

Barbara frowned at him.

"In case you've forgotten, I was a 'freelancer' for the longest time, even after you joined the team. When I first became Batgirl, Batman wouldn't give me the time of day, he treated me like a hack, I was always out of the loop, I didn't even know where the Batcave was or that Bruce was Batman."

Robin returned the frown.

"If you're trying to get me to feel bad … it's working." He grumbled.

Batgirl sighed.

"Maybe we should just get to bed." She replied. "And don't worry; I'm sure she'll be back."

The two 'children of the bat' said their good nights and separated. Robin headed off to the gym for a quick end of the day workout while Barbara headed up to the guest room that Cyborg had prepared for her at the last minute: Terra's old room.

Babs rode the elevator to the habitat level and as soon as the doors opened she rushed off to her room. A she dashed down the hallway she walked past a door labeled 'Raven'. She stopped in her tracks. After a pregnant pause she turned around and knocked on Raven's door.

"Come in Batgirl, the door is unlocked."

Barbara felt a shiver go down her spine as she felt unnerved that Raven had been able to sense her presence. She also thanked her lucky stars that Raven wasn't a villain. She shuddered at the mere thought of having to fight the gray sorceress.

The door slid open, revealing Raven's unconventional room, with its collection of bizarre and even macabre knick-knacks, books and other artifacts. The room was dark and was illuminated in an amber glow of several candles, and the shadows they cast danced on the walls like sinister guardians, watching over Raven and her realm. As she slowly entered she saw that Raven was sitting at the foot of her bed.

"Your legs are back?" Barbara asked.

"Barely." Raven replied. "What can I do for you, Batgirl?"

As Barbara entered Raven's cavernous room she noticed they were not alone. Artemis was leaning against a wall and M'Gann sat down next to Raven.

"I wanted to talk about Starf…"

Batgirl stopped midsentence when she notice that the Tamaranian Princess was seated in a recliner in the far corner of the room.

"Starfire, I'm so sorry, I didn't mean to … uh … it wasn't what it looked like. I know I kissed Dick on the lips, but it wasn't romantic, you have to believe me."

"Dick?" Starfire replied.

"You kissed him on the lips, and you want us to believe that it was just a sisterly peck?" Artemis growled. "Do we look stupid?"

Babs swallowed hard. What was that expression? If you're stuck in a hole, stop digging.

"Batgirl, are you saying that you know who Robin is, that you know his secret identity?" M'Gann asked.

"Uh, yeah, why do you ask?"

Starfire stood up, her eyes were glowing a menacing green.

"Because I do not!" Starfire growled at the Batgirl. "Robin has insisted that he must keep his identity a secret. But now I see that he is the 'intimate' with you and shares the secrets that he will not share with me." Starfire of course did not know that Raven knew Robin's identity from the one time she entered his mind and saw his memories.

"Are you sleeping with him?" Artemis accused her.

"Hey, it's not like that!" Barbara protested. "And I've never slept with him. As for his identity, we're both members of the Batclan; we both know who Batman is."

The four women gave her a skeptical look.

"You don't trust me."

M'Gann watched from a distance, absorbing the impromptu lesson in human interaction. She was still trying to come to terms with how humans did not trust each other, but after quickly studying their history, she could understand why: Earthlings were savages; they would actually kill and murder each other. It was so hard to fathom.

"Should we?" Artemis asked.

Barbara closed her eyes as she concentrated, searching for a solution to her dilemma. Then with no warning she pulled her cowl back, revealing her identity.

"You're Barbara Gordon, the Gotham PD Commissioner's daughter." Raven commented, knowing that the others would not recognize her.

"That still doesn't explain why you kissed him." Artemis remarked.

Starfire raised her hand.

"Because she has taken us into her confidence, I accept Miss Gordon's explanation." Starfire interjected.

Barbara heaved a huge sigh.

"Thank you, Starfire."

"I welcome you."

As Barbara slipped her cowl back on she recalled the Boy Wonder's anguish.

"Robin's in the gym Starfire … maybe you should go see him?"

The princess glanced at Raven, who subtly nodded at her.

"I shall." She replied as rushed out of the room.

Batgirl exhaled in relief.

_**-(scene break)-**_

The breakfast dishes were still being loaded into the dishwasher when the whine of the Batwing's engines could be heard, followed by a dull thud coming from the landing pad on the roof. Cyborg finished wiping the table top clean of the breakfast debris and headed off to meet the Dark Knight.

TT-Robin surveyed the room and its occupants. Beast Boy was seated in his wheelchair at the end of the crescent shaped couch, reading a graphic novel. Raven was next to him, seated on the end of the couch, reading a book. Her legs were still weak from the paralysis beam, but she would not give Batman the satisfaction of seeing her in a wheelchair.

YJ-Wally, M'Gann, Superboy and Artemis were also seated on the couch, unable to mask the anxiousness that their body language betrayed. Starfire, YJ-Robin and Kaldur were in the kitchen, finishing the clean up, which they accomplished as the sliding doors parted, revealing Batman and Cyborg's figures.

Beast Boy expertly turned his wheelchair around to get a better look at the Dark Knight. The green changeling was able to discern similarities between Batman and his own former mentor, the Doom Patrol's Mento.

Both were obsessed men, obsessed with their own crusades. The changeling knew nothing about the Dark Knight's troubled past, which paralleled Robin's. The green lad had no inkling that he shared a common burden with Batman and Robin: the loss of his parents when he was a child.

What he could see was that Robin was far more like his mentor than he would ever admit. Both were imposing and brooding figures, shrouded in mystery. They were both super-athletes, lacking superpowers, yet were indomitable in their spirits. Both were natural leaders, who inspired confidence in their followers.

But there were also differences. Robin had his moments when he was affable, warm, inviting. Beast Boy had never heard of Batman described that way. And while Robin commanded respect from his opponents, Batman commanded fear, and not just from villains. With his keen animal senses he was able to detect apprehension emanating from Robin, whereas from Batman he sensed … nothing. Not even Raven was that good.

"Don't stare Gar, that's what he wants you to do." Raven whispered to him.

He nodded in reply and got up from his wheelchair. The sorceress scooted over and he sat down next to her, taking her hand in his own.

"Are you ready to leave?" Batman asked the 6 Young Justice League members.

Kaldur exited from the kitchen and approached the man known as the world's greatest detective.

"We are ready Batman, and we are grateful for the Justice League's assistance."

Robin frowned upon hearing their decision.

"Is that what you really want, to be sidekicks?" Robin asked.

"Of course we don't want to be sidekicks." Artemis interjected. "But after yesterday's battle, well, maybe we do need more training."

"You could train with us." Beast Boy interrupted. "Or do you think they never screw up?"

"We did not do the screwing up!" Starfire protested. "We were victorious yesterday, even if we were not optimal in our performance. The Teen Titans are not amateurs or sidekicks. We have defeated the Brotherhood of Evil and Brother Blood."

"Don't forget Slade." Cyborg added.

Batman turned to the one Titan who had remained silent so far.

"What do you think, Miss Roth?" Batman asked her.

After a long pause Raven replied.

"Please do not call me that, unless you prefer that I share your identity with the Titans."

Batman glared at Raven, but she did not even flinch.

"I think that the Young Justice League should do what they think is most appropriate for them. I know that Robin is disappointed with their decision, but it is theirs to make."

"Your reputation as the wise Titan is well founded." Batman replied, before turning to his six new charges.

"It's time to go." He deadpanned.

Batman pulled out a communicator and keyed it up.

"Hawkgirl." A disembodied voice sounded.

"They're ready." Batman replied.

The 6 super heroes began to shimmer and suddenly disappeared.

"Transport was successful. They're here. Hawkgirl out."

Cyborg was bug eyed.

"You have teleporters? Since when do you have teleporters?" The tin man shrieked.

"Since a long time ago." Batman deadpanned. "Let's go, Batgirl."

Without even saying goodbye Batman turned around and headed to the elevator. Batgirl ran to Robin, placing a hand on his shoulder.

"I'm sorry." She whispered before running off to catch up with her mentor.

As soon as the doors closed Beast Boy spoke up.

"Big whoop, so they have a teleporter. Raven's been able to teleport for years."

Raven placed a hand on his shoulder and shook her head. He got the message and fell silent.

"Well, I guess that's it, they're out of our hands." Robin announced in a forlorn voice.

The sound of the Batwing's engines was heard and the signature black jet streaked away from the Tower, as the 5 Titans watched through the large windows in the common room, which remained quiet until Starfire broke the silence.

"I do not like the Batman."

"He's a jerk!" Beast Boy added. "He thinks that he can just walk in here and push us around!"

"He did push us around." Cyborg added. "And what's with you Raven? Whose side are you on anyway?"

"Dude! That's not cool! You know Raven's a Titan. She's on our side!"

"Well, she practically handed them over to him on a silver platter!"

Starfire gasped upon hearing the unfounded accusation.

"Cyborg, that is not true and you know it. They deserve the right to make their own choice." Raven replied in her monotone.

"But did they Raven? You don't think he bullied them?" Robin added.

"If they succumbed to his pressure, then they aren't ready to be Titans." She retorted.

"You don't understand Raven, he's a manipulator. You don't know what he's like!" Robin howled.

"I don't? Have you forgotten that I've been in your mind, Robin?"

"Don't remind me." He grumbled.

"What's that supposed to mean?" She snarled at him.

Before Robin could reply the Tower's klaxons went off. Instinctively he rushed to his console and typed a few keystrokes.

"It's just a bank robbery. Starfire and Cyborg, let's go! Raven and Beast Boy, don't even think about it, you're both injured, so you're staying home."

The three healthy Titans rushed out of the common room, with Cyborg in the rear. The tin man stopped and turned around.

"Hey green bean, don't have too much fun messin' around with your girlfriend while we're gone!" He taunted the changeling while sporting a big grin. His reverie was short lived; as Raven zapped him with a black lightning bolt, sending him flying out the door, which slid shut with a loud thud.

The changeling began to laugh and guffawed loudly, until he stopped, grimacing in pain.

"I … I guess the saying is true … it only hurts when I laugh." He wheezed.

Raven helped him lean back against the couch.

"I'm sorry Gar, but my healing powers are still gone. Just relax and I'll get you some pain killers."

Before Raven got up she gave him a kiss. He quickly wrapped his arms around her, drawing her in, which she did not resist. And they continued locking lips for what some would consider a very long time.

And Beast Boy decided he didn't need any pain killers after all.

_**-(scene break)-**_

The six teens gasped as they rematerialized in the Justice League's space station. They were used to being teleported, which was not a novelty for them. What was unexpected was their destination. They had never been to the Justice League's space station before.

What also surprised them was their host, who stood monumentally in his red and blue costume.

"You must be the Young Justice League. Welcome to our space station."

The man of steel focused his attention on the young man wearing a black T-Shirt with the family crest on it.

"And you must be Superboy. We have a lot of training to do young man. Come with me."

Except for Robin, each of the teen heroes joined with his or her mentor: Green Arrow, The Flash, The Martian Manhunter and Aquaman. Powergirl and Capt. Marvel watched from a distance.

"So what do you think their chances are of ever getting home, Billy?" The busty Kryptonian asked.

"Next to none." He replied.

"I'm not sure I agree with what the League is doing." She replied. "They just want to put the Titans in their place, that's what all this training is about. They just want to upstage the Teen Titans with the Young Justice League."

Capt. Marvel chuckled.

"You're cute when you're paranoid."

_**-(scene break)-**_

OK! I hope I didn't bore you with this chapter. The plot will soon thicken!

What? Only a single review for the previous chapter? It got 21 reviews when I originally posted it in the Young Justice section a year ago.


	11. The deal

"Now that's what I call a restaurant with a view!" Wally remarked as he set his tray down on table, admiring the blue planet below. The view was both magnificent as well as serene since the Earth below stood out like an amethyst in the black void of space.

"Restaurant? More like a cafeteria." Artemis corrected him.

"Actually, the food is pretty good here, especially for a cafeteria." Robin added.

"So how did everyone's training sessions go?" M'Gann asked.

"Superman began to train me in the basics of flight." Connor replied as he sampled his lunch. "Hey, this is pretty good food."

"Green Arrow had me do some acrobatic exercises. He really pushed me. After that he shared some of his newest arrows with me."

"Flash taught me how to vibrate through walls without getting a nosebleed."

"Aquaman taught me some advanced telepathy techniques to use with sea creatures."

"The Martian Manhunter began training me in density shifting."

Aqualad put his fork down an addressed Robin.

"What did you and Batman do together?"

"Let me tell you." The Boy Wonder replied.

_**-(scene break)-**_

To say that Robin was disoriented and confused was an understatement, and he wasn't because he had been teleported twice within the span of 5 minutes. It was hard to describe how he felt, but if asked later, her would have said that it felt like one of those dreams, the ones where you're at school, it's the last day of the semester, you never attended class, today was the final exam and you don't even know where the classroom is.

He was in the Batcave, yet nothing was recognizable to him. The Batmobile was different, the Batcave was different, Babs was different (though he actually liked this version of Batgirl better than the one at home, even though he preferred the black and yellow costume his Batgirl wore). Even Alfred looked different.

Batman was standing in front of a lab workbench, assiduously studying the computer display. After a long, silent pause he grunted.

"Your DNA is identical."

Robin crossed his arms and shifted his weight, ending up in a cocky and somewhat defiant posture.

"I already told you, Cyborg found the same results in his own DNA test. The Two Kid Flashes also match."

"No offense, but Cyborg is not only a teenager, he didn't even finish high school."

"He seems pretty competent to me. You should see the security system he made for Titan's Tower."

The Dark Knight turned and glared at the young teen.

"A security system that has been breached on multiple occasions by Mad Mod, The Hive, The Puppet King, Brother Blood and Deathstroke. Of course Robin had to build their headquarters right in plain sight, in the middle of Jump City Bay. He might as well have painted a bull's eye on it."

The young boy wonder eyed his counterpart's mentor carefully. He was beginning to understand why Robin had walked out on the Batman.

"So what happened with you guys? Why did he bail out on you?"

"Perhaps you should ask him yourself."

"I would, but he isn't exactly the most approachable guy in the world."

"So you noticed. Tell me Robin, what is your opinion of the Teen Titans?"

Robin didn't answer immediately. Instead he took in his surroundings. While the Batcave was different, it was also familiar. The museum section was there, with the giant penny that trapped Two Face, the robot version of Scarface's giant head, and many other relics from past encounters with villains, including Deathstroke's sword.

"I heard that they were able to beat Deathstroke."

"They didn't capture him." Batman corrected him.

Robin grinned as he replied.

"Neither did you."

"Only because he left town for Jump City." Batman replied in his monotone. "So I take it you approve of their setup."

"They're a good group Bruce. They fight well, and they really are a team. Robin doesn't even have to tell his teammates what to do; they each know what their role is. But most of all, they care about each other."

"So you really believe they fight well? Is that why Raven and Beast Boy are injured?"

Robin narrowed his eyes, trying to read the parallel version of his mentor. Just like his version of Bruce, this one was inscrutable, an unreadable dark mystery. It was obvious though that he had an ax to grind with the Titans, and it wasn't just because of his counterpart, the other Robin. While he found TT-Robin to be a bit of a jerk and even a blowhard at times, he had to give him some credit. He had stood up to Bruce, something he knew that he couldn't do, at least not at this point in his life. And he envied the Titans. They operated independently, they had their own place while Robin and Beast Boy even had hot girlfriends (he did agree with Wally that Raven was a bit over the top creepy.)

"We all get hurt once in a while."

"It's because of their lack of discipline. The very fact that they are engaged in romantic relationships with each other is why they are not as effective as they could be. Love affairs and being a super hero don't go together. It clouds one's judgment. You worry about your lover instead of focusing on the task."

Robin was about to tell Bruce that there was no hanky panky going on in Titans Tower, but knew that it would be a waste of time to tell him. He also didn't agree that they lacked discipline, he had seen the grueling training Robin subjected to his team without playing favorites to Starfire, but he kept his opinion to himself. Instead he chose to switch gears.

"When do we get to go home?"

Batman approached one of his consoles.

"The Justice League is working on finding a way to send you and your team home. But I'm going to be honest with you; the probability of locating your universe of origin is looking very, very low now."

"How low?"

"I'm afraid that it's less than one chance in a million."

The young Boy Wonder frowned.

"I know this is not welcome news Robin, but every cloud has a silver lining."

Robin felt a pang of concern reverberate through his entire being. This Batman was telling him that for all practical purposes he and his friends were trapped in this dimension, unable to find their way home. What could possibly be his good news?

"What would that be?" He asked in a clearly defeated tone.

"We can start a Young Justice League in this reality. The truth is that we have been thinking about this for some time, and came close to implementing it until …"

"Until what?"

"Until my Robin decided he wanted to be independent."

"And founded the Teen Titans." Robin added.

"That was not his original plan. The Titans were an afterthought. Even after the incident with the Gordanians they were not an official team. That happened later. To be honest we didn't think they would last more than a few months."

"But why, Batman?"

The Dark Knight folded his arms.

"Other than Robin, only Beast Boy has any formal training with a proper mentor. The other 3, while gifted, are poorly trained. Because of their amateur status the Titans have had far too many close calls with disaster. Take the Geomancer, Terra Markov. After Deathstroke trained her she was able to easily dispatch Robin and his team. She exploited each team member's weakness: Raven's inability to control her anger, Starfire's naïveté, Cyborg's easy going nature, Beast Boy's romantic feelings for her and most of all, Robin's steadfast belief that everyone can be redeemed and deserves a second chance. He should have known better."

"I still don't understand Bruce, what does this have to do with the Young Justice League?"

Batman paused for a moment before replying.

"We made a mistake with our first attempt at forming the Young Justice League. We treated Robin and his peers as children, so they rejected us and built their own clubhouse so to speak. Now there will be a second chance to do it, and we have learned from our mistakes …"

_**-(scene break)-**_

"So you're saying that they won't treat us like kids this time?" Artemis asked.

"So far I like what I'm hearing." Superboy added.

"What do you think Megan?" Robin asked.

"Well, I really had no problem with the way we were treated back at home, but I can tell you guys are pretty excited about this. What do you think Kaldur?"

The Atlantean once again was his usual somber and serious self.

"We must not forget that our objective is to return home. I understand that the odds are severely stacked against us, to the point of all hope being lost."

"So what do we do?" Artemis asked. "Do we waste away, spending the rest of our lives waiting for the path home to be found?"

"Or do we adopt this universe as our new home and move on?" Robin asked.

"What about you Wally? You haven't said anything."

"What about the Titans?" He asked.

"Look Wally, I really like the Teen Titans. I respect their independence and their accomplishments, but even you have to admit that they are really rough around the edges. I think we should train with the Justice League. Once our training is complete, who says we can't go back to them. Besides that, we left Megan's ship with them, it's not like we're not gonna talk to them anymore or stop being their friends." The archer replied.

"Artemis makes a very good point." Kaldur added, just as Batman approached them.

"I see you have finished your meal. Please come with me, I have something to show you."

The 6 teen heroes obediently rose from their chairs and followed Batman out of the mess hall, and were watched by the many lesser members of the Justice League who were also eating a meal in the celestial dining room. Batman led them down along hallway and into a small auditorium, where he indicated them to take a seat. Once they were seated Batman took his place behind a podium and was joined by the other mentors: Green Arrow, Flash, Aquaman, Martian Manhunter and Superman.

"Today each one of you had a brief training session with your potential mentor. I'm certain that Robin has already explained everything to you, but just to be clear I will formally deliver our offer to you. The probability of your eventual return to your universe is miniscule, infinitesimal to be exact. We will continue to in our search to locate it and if we are successful you will return to your home."

Batman paused, cleared his throat and continued.

"In the meantime, we are prepared to complete your training. Once your training is complete you will be admitted into the Justice League as full members."

"Full members?" Superboy asked.

"Yes, full members." Batman replied.

Wally shifted his stance, adopting a defiant pose.

"In other words, we'll just be your sidekicks again."

Batman nodded.

"That is correct Mr. West. However, we have prepared a training program for you, a program that is intense and hands on, were you will be pushed to your limits and will quickly reach your potential. We estimate that it will take approximately two months to complete. Upon successfully completing your training you will no longer be sidekicks."

Murmurs of surprise and excitement echoed throughout the room as the teens quickly exchanged remarks with each other.

"If you accept, you will be paired with your mentor. There will be no missions to interrupt your training, except in the most exceptional of cases which should be rare as the rest of the Justice League will be able to cover for us. You will spend all of your time with your mentor and won't have any time to interact with anyone else, not even your teammates."

"What about the Titans?" Wally asked.

"They are not part of your training program. Once your training is complete you will be free to do whatever you please. Of course as full members of the League there will be certain expectations of you. That said, you will be under no obligation to join the League and could return to the Titans if you are so inclined."

It was then that it dawned on Kaldur that Aquaman would take him back to Atlantis for the two months. He knew that it would be busy during the training period, but after it was done he would be able to rethink his role on this world, his role as a leader, as a hero and even as an Atlantean. Maybe, he began to wonder, if maybe there would be a place for her in his new life. Kaldur was a realist, he had seen the odds of returning home and understood that they might as well get used to living in this familiar, yet different world.

A world where Tula still wished to be with him.

Kaldur and his team conferred in private and after a few minutes they responded.

"Batman, we accept your offer."

_**-(scene break)-**_

The alarms at the bank were still ringing when the three Titans arrived. Cyborg's sonic cannon was charged and deployed, Starfire had starbolts in each hand and her eyes were glowing their signature fluorescent green while Robin had his bo staff in one hand and three bird-a-rangs in the other.

The bank lobby was a large and cavernous room with marble floors and walls. It was also deserted. The numerous teller stations were unoccupied and the room was so quiet that their footsteps echoed loudly off the marble. Robin then noticed that in the far corner of the room that some of the desks were smashed. He pointed towards them, using his other hand to signal to his teammates to remain silent. They slowly approached the pile of desks and once they reached it Robin gave the signal to attack.

The three Titans leaped over the mountain of destroyed furniture as Robin shouted his signature "Titans Go!"

They stopped dead in their tracks as they watched Terra tie up the last of the bank robbers. The blond geomancer was once again wearing her tan colored unitard and gave the three Titans a friendly smile.

"What took you guys so long?" She asked innocently.

Robin gave Terra a glare as good as any Raven could have delivered. While he had been an advocate for the blond in the early days, he now had his doubts about her. Some would argue that she had redeemed herself, offering her own life to save the city from the underground volcano she had inadvertently awakened. Robin often wondered if she really did it for Beast Boy, to save him. One thing that had not changed over the years was the cocky attitude she acquired as Slade's apprentice.

Robin stared into the young woman's blue eyes. One thing they shared, other than her brief tenure as a Teen Titan, was their servitude to Slade. What he couldn't fathom was how she had willingly become the one eyed villain's servant. Slade had coerced Robin into servitude, threatening to murder his friends with the nano-probes he had planted in their bloodstreams if he refused. But Terra had joined him of her own free will. He then also recalled a big difference between Terra and himself: His teammates rallied to free him from Slade, while placing themselves at great risk. They would never have done that for the blond geomancer.

"What are you doing here, Terra?" Robin growled.

"What does it look like? I'm fighting crime."

Starfire frowned at the remark and became airborne, rising over her teammates. She hovered in front of Terra and scowled at her.

"You are not a Teen Titan!" The princess reprimanded her.

Terra laughed.

"I never said I was. You guys don't have a monopoly on fighting crime, you know? Or do I need your permission to be a hero?"

Robin dropped out of his fighting stance, allowing his muscles, which were literally preprogrammed via "muscle memory" into perfect combat stances, to relax. As he exhaled he could feel the tension oozing out of this body, like air leaking out of a balloon.

"She's right, we don't have a monopoly and she doesn't need our permission." He replied breathlessly

Terra grinned triumphantly as she traded glances with Cyborg and Starfire, who were now showing the confusion they felt on their faces as the police stormed the building and hauled the bandits away.

"Well, I guess our work here is done." Terra crowed as she began to walk away. "We should get together sometime; maybe have pizzas or something. See ya!"

Terra summoned the same granite surfboard she had used to bring Raven back to the Tower, and quickly flew away.

"What was that all about? Since when is Terra a crime fighter?" Cyborg asked.

"I agree with friend Cyborg, this is as you humans would say, the fishy."

Robin watched Terra disappear in the distance.

"I think we should have that pizza with her, I have a lot of questions for Terra." He sighed. "She's right; our work here is done, even if she did all the work. Let's head back to the …"

Robin was interrupted by a loud chirp in his utility belt. He drew his communicator and flipped it open, revealing Raven's face on the small display.

"It's Red-X. He just broke into the Metropolitan Museum. He's probably after the Mayan jewelry display." She informed her leader in her monotone.

"That's just two blocks away!" Cyborg interrupted.

Robin cursed his luck. Encounters with Red-X were never pleasant, or easy for that matter, and he was now down two team members. A voice in the back of his head was telling him that maybe going after Red-X without Raven and Beast Boy wasn't a good idea. But then all he could see was the cowl, and the steel cold eyes glaring at him through the eye openings, piercing him with their disapproval, their accusation of incompetence, of being reminded that he was just a kid. The unspoken accusation burned, like a hot dagger stabbed into his midsection, twisting as it lacerated him, sucking the life out of his very being. It was like when they had been in Tokyo and Commander Daizo had dismissed them with a laugh. He remembered the humiliation of being ineffective, and the fear was back. If he backed off now, what would Bruce say? And if he failed how could face Bruce again?

Or worse, how could Robin ever face himself?

Failure was not an option.

"You guys heard Raven! We have a mission. Titans Go!"

_**-(scene break)-**_


	12. RedX

Artemis picked up the pace, taking deep, rhythmic breaths as she ran the gauntlet that was the Green Arrow's obstacle course. She had lost track of how many times she had repeated the course, but it had been many. All she knew as she climbed a vertical wall was that none of the iterations had been perfect, there had been at least one mistake made each time.

Her lungs felt as if they were on fire as she cleared the top of the 10 meter tall wall. The deep drop loomed before her but she resisted the urge to pause if even for a spit second to catch her breath and instead she immediately plunged to the ground far below, rolling flawlessly as she landed, dissipating the kinetic energy of her fall into an elegant and swift roll from which she rose to her feet immediately, resuming her run.

She was now nearing the end of the course. Her heart was pounding like a jackhammer and her lungs protested, demanding that she stop and rest. She did neither and instead ran up a long flight of concrete stairs. Upon reaching the top she leapt off the edge, performing a mid air spin as she fired off two separate arrows, both of which hit their targets in the bulls eye. As she came down she landed feet first on a trampoline and shot back up into the air. Tucking her legs in under her she went into a tight and fast spin. She drew 3 arrows and pulled back on her bow, which she released as she continued to spin, releasing the 3 arrows at the same time.

The three arrows hit the targets that were almost 100 feet away, but only one hit the bull's eye. Groaning in defeat she landed face first on the trampoline and after bouncing back up she landed on her behind and in frustration she punched the jumping surface and screamed her displeasure. Without waiting she hopped off the trampoline and began to run back to the starting line, until the Green Arrow intercepted her. He handed her a large ice cold bottle of Gatorade, which she accepted gratefully.

"Take five." He consoled her. "You're doing OK Artemis; you'll have this down pat by the end of the end of the day."

The archeress flopped down on a concrete bench, pressing the ice cold bottle against her neck, rubbing it against the swollen carotid artery on her neck, feeling her strong and rapid pulse vibrate into the bottle while the comforting chill seeped into her neck. She then unscrewed the cap and began to sloppily gulp down the bottle's contents, as some of the blue liquid dripped down her cheeks. She continued drinking until she emptied the bottle.

"Thanks … have you been able to find my counterpart or my mother?"

The Green Arrow sat down next to her.

"Not yet."

"So … I'm alone in this dimension. I didn't have much back at home, but I at least had my mom." She muttered sotto voce.

"We don't know that yet. Batman is still searching …"

He was interrupted by a beep on his communicator, which he flipped open and read the message on the screen.

"Correction, Batman found them."

Artemis perked up.

"Where are they?"

The Green Arrow flipped his communicator shut and paused before replying.

"They're both dead; apparently there was an automobile accident 9 years ago."

She gasped before replying.

"No … that can't be … no one died in that accident … my mother was confined to a wheelchair after that, but no one died…"

"I'm sorry Artemis … I don't know what to say …"

She stood up and wiped her face dry with her sleeve.

"There's nothing to say. She wasn't me and her mother wasn't my mother."

He placed a hand on her shoulder.

"Maybe you should take a break?"

She shook her head.

"No, I'm ready to continue." She replied as she took off running to the obstacle's starting point.

_**-(scene break)-**_

The two museum guards were squirming on the floor, their arms and legs bound by a strange red elastic material shaped like an X and their mouths were sealed shut by two smaller X's. Try as they did, they were unable to break free and all they could do was flop like fish on the floor.

Red X ignored them as he made his way to the giant showcase. Safely guarded behind shatter and bulletproof glass was a dazzling collection of emeralds and jade, including the world famous jade burial mask.

"You are going to look good when I add you to my collection." He gloated as he slapped one of his signature X's on the glass.

"X marks the spot." He announced to no one in particular.

The elastic X began to pulse, growing and shrinking rapidly as it began to vibrate. Suddenly the glass shattered, exposing the priceless historical treasures. Picking up the jade mask he snickered to himself.

"I love it when the good guy wins." He congratulated himself.

"Too bad you're nothing more than a common thief!" Robin snarled at him.

Red X calmly turned around and faced the three Titans.

"I heard that Raven and Beast Boy are on the injured list. That's too bad; I was kind of hoping that tonight would be at least half a challenge. Oh well, I guess the three of you will have to do."

"Have to do!" Cyborg shouted as he armed his sonic cannon. "Who do you think you are punk?"

"I'm the guy who's gonna walk out of here with the Mayan treasure."

"Wanna bet!" Robin snarled as he threw three birdarangs at his nemesis.

Red X deftly dodged the birdarangs.

"You need new toys Robin; your birdarangs are so last year."

Cyborg and Starfire joined the melee, with his sonic cannon firing away while Starfire began a volley of starbolts. Red-X easily evaded their attacks.

"Is that the best you can do? I'd be embarrassed if I was you!"

Robin extended his collapsible bo staff and with a powerful martial arts yell he lunged at his nemesis.

_**-(scene break)-**_

"Focus Kon El, you can do it."

Superboy clenched his teeth as he struggled to levitate just a few inches above the ground. He wobbled precariously as he gave it his all to not lose his balance and to remain steady. Clark made it look so easy.

"Tell me … this will … get easier." Superboy gasped between short breaths.

"It will, and you're doing fine. I know this exercise seems pointless, but the trick is to develop consistency. You have no trouble with taking off, it's flying that gives you trouble. You need to develop stamina and control."

"I'm … trying."

The man of steel grinned.

"Take a break. After that we can do some heat vision exercises."

Superboy landed on his feet with a dull thud, which echoed throughout the icy cavern. Superman had both of them teleported to the Fortress of Solitude so that they could train in private and without distractions. Superboy picked up a water bottle and took a deep swig before screwing its cap back on. He then turned and looked at his mentor.

"So is it true, we're not going home?"

"No one said that was carved in stone. But the odds are heavily stacked against it."

Superboy gazed off into infinity, his face devoid of any emotion.

"Are you alright Kon El?"

He paused before replying.

"Yeah, sure, why not?"

"Don't you care about getting home?"

"Not really."

"Why not?"

Superboy was beginning to feel uncomfortable with Clark's probing. Did he think that just because he was Superman's clone that he wasn't an individual? Or was it because he saw Connor as a son?

"If you must know, there's no one back there for me."

"Really? No one? What about my counterpart?"

"We didn't exactly see eye to eye Clark. All he ever did was remind me that I wasn't him."

"I'm sorry to hear that. You know that we don't see you that way."

Superboy shrugged.

"So no girlfriend back home?"

Connor barked a self deprecating laugh.

"Not really. I'm only a few months old you know … well … there is someone I … kind of like … but she's here."

"A teammate?" Clark laughed. "Don't tell Batman. You know how he feels about that."

Connor noticed that Clark didn't press him on revealing who she was, for which he was grateful.

"What's his problem with Raven and Beast Boy?"

Superman smiled before replying.

"Batman's always had commitment issues with the ladies. Don't get me wrong, he likes them alright, he just never found the right one I suppose, and doesn't like it when others do. Also, I've heard him mumbling something about what Beast Boy's and Raven's offspring would be like: something about a monster beast demon from hell."

Superboy snorted his disapproval.

"Isn't he getting ahead of things? They're just dating."

"You know how Batman can be …"

"Compulsive/obsessive and anal retentive?"

Clark guffawed.

"Yeah, you could put it that way. Ready for you heat vision exercise?"

Superboy nodded and joined his mentor as they headed off to another room.

_**-(scene break)-**_

Robin swung his bo staff at Red-X's lower extremities, hoping to knock his legs out from under him. The masked villain dodged the sweep with a perfectly timed jump and flip, and kicked Robin in the face as he came back down. As Robin staggered back Starfire zoomed in and tackled Red-X, sending both of them tumbling onto the floor, with Starfire ending up sitting on top of her snarky opponent, her legs straddling his torso.

"I'm beginning to like this! You know that you only have to tell me when you want me, Starfire." He chucked as he placed his hands on her hips.

Starfire emitted an alien roar, not unlike the one she used to shoo away the couple at Kitten's prom that asked her if they could have some punch. And punch she did, as she sent her superhuman fist careening towards Red-X's masked face. He managed to dodge her blow, which was fortunate for him as her fist left a small crater in its wake on the marble surface on the floor.

"Hey cutie, I like to play rough, but let's not get carried away." He added as he shot one of his elastic X's into her face, momentarily blinding her while he escaped from her tackle.

Robin came to her aide as they tried to remove the gooey X from her face. Cyborg joined them and as he had done for Raven a few years before, when Robin wore the Red-X costume, he abruptly ripped the sticky X off of her face.

"YEOOOUUUCH!" Starfire screamed.

The Tamaranian's eyes were glowing a fluorescent green as she jumped back onto her feet. She pointed at Red-X as every muscle in her alien body rippled in anger.

"You are a bad person!"

Red-X picked up the Jade mask and began to run away.

"I'm not a bad person, Starfire. I just don't play by the rules!"

He zoomed towards a window and leaped, ready to make his escape from the museum.

"Maybe we can play more next time, Titans. See ya!"

As Red-X flew towards his escape a large slab of the marble floor peeled itself off the floor and blocked his exit. He crashed into it and staggered back in a daze. The priceless mask flew into the air…

… and landed in the hands of a certain Terra Markov.

"Hey guys, I heard that BB and Raven are still on the disabled list, so I came to give you a hand."

Robin sighed.

_Not her … again._

_**-(scene break)-**_

"I'm sorry, Uncle J'onn, I can't do it. It makes me feel sick when I shift my density."

The alien Justice Leaguer felt uneasy upon hearing those words. He had viewed M'Gann's memories and knew she was telling him the truth about being his niece in her home dimension. Nevertheless it unnerved him to hear this stranger call him 'uncle'.

"With practice you will overcome the sense of nausea, M'Gann."

Megan gave him one of her shy and endearing smiles.

"Uncle J'onn, may I ask you a question?"

"You may. What do you wish to know?"

"It's about the Teen Titans. I can tell, without using telepathy, that Batman doesn't like them."

"That is correct."

"But why? They seem to be a great team. They're independent and have a great track record. They defeated the Brotherhood of Evil!"

"And Trigon the Terrible." J'onn added. "They are an admirable team, but Batman is correct in that they could use our guidance. If they allowed us to mentor them they would be even better than they are. They would be the logical choice to assume leadership in the Justice League when their time comes. But that won't happen as they are too proud and stubborn, which is unfortunate."

"Maybe … they don't want to be part of the Justice League? Maybe … they don't need to join the league."

"That makes no sense, M'Gann. Why would they not wish to join the Justice League?"

"I'm not sure Uncle J'onn, but I know one thing about the Titans."

J'onn crossed his arms.

"What would that be?"

"Unlike my team, they know who they are."

The Martian Manhunter narrowed his eyes, and a pregnant pause followed.

"Once your training is complete that you will no longer harbor any doubts about your identity or your destiny."

_**-(scene break)-**_

"What are you doing here, Terra?" Robin barked at her.

"Duh! I'm helping you guys."

"We do not require your assistance!" Starfire growled at her.

Terra smirked.

"You could have fooled me."

"Now you listen here missy, we had this situation under control." Cyborg added.

The unfriendly exchange did not go unnoticed by Red-X, who seized the moment. He jumped onto his feet, body slamming into Terra while he slapped a giant gooey X around her. She tumbled to the floor, cursing that she allowed herself to be caught off guard. Red-X bolted again for the large open window, landing on the sill. He turned around to face the Titans.

"We have to stop meeting like this, Titans. Give my regards to Raven and Beast Boy."

Red-X jumped out of the window into the air and vanished. Robin stared at the now empty window, his right eye betraying his anger with a rapid twitch. He turned around and kicked a stray trash can and howled his frustration. Like Slade, Red-X somehow always managed to give them the slip. Starfire and Cyborg crossed their arms, frowns plastered on their faces. Terra continued to squirm in a futile attempt to break free from her bonds.

"Guys? A little help here please?"

Robin regained his composure and after drawing a birdarang he knelt down next to the blond Geomancer and cut her free. She stood up and peeled off the residual red elastic from her costume.

"Who is this guy, Robin?" Terra asked.

Robin snorted back at her.

"Never mind that, you're coming back with us to the Tower … we have to talk."

_**-(scene break)-**_


	13. Guess who's coming to dinner?

The pair of caped crusaders dropped down from the skylight, landing stealthily on the carpeted floor in the room. YJ-Robin looked around at the elegant room, its walls were covered in fine wood paneling and there were several pieces of expensive artwork hanging from them, including a Picasso and an Andrew Wyeth. The two quickly ducked behind a pair of wingback chairs as the door opened, revealing a security guard with a flashlight, who frowned as he scanned the room with his electric torch. Still dissatisfied he flipped the lights on and scanned the whole room from the entrance. After lingering for a moment he shut off the lights, satisfied everything was in order, and left the room.

"Now do you see why it was important to close the skylight after we entered, even though we blocked the security system? Had the guard seen that it was open, we would have been caught." Batman lectured the boy wonder.

Robin nodded his acknowledgement. Batman continued.

"Rupert Thorn's mansion is the best guarded one in all of Gotham, so stay sharp. And remember, this is a reconnaissance mission, we don't want Thorn to know that we were ever here."

"You already said that … like 10 times." Robin whispered back.

"Because it's important. Now let's get to his office, without being seen or heard."

Robin switched on his holographic wrist computer, which displayed a 3D layout of the mansion. Batman reached over and switched it off.

"Without using that."

"Why?" Robin complained.

"Consider it part of your training. Tools, while useful, should never become a crutch."

Robin was facing away from the Dark Knight and he rolled his eyes.

"Whatever." Robin grumbled in reply.

The two silently ran to the door. Robin peered outside and quickly ducked back into the room, signaling to Batman that they should wait.

"You are different from him." Batman whispered.

"How so?"

"You have an attitude. My Robin was a lot more serious about his role as my sidekick than you are."

"So why did he leave?" YJ-Robin asked.

Batman paused before answering.

"Because he was impatient. He wanted his independence and I failed to notice. By the time he decided to leave it was too late to make amends."

"And now he runs the Teen Titans and has a smoking hot girlfriend … you must really hate that."

Batman glared at the young sidekick.

"Hate has nothing to do with it. The fact is that he is doing things wrong and is going to get burned."

The young boy returned the glare.

"How exactly is he going to get burned? He has an awesome team. They work together like the pieces in a watch. And they get along great. I wish I could say that about my team."

"I thought it was Kaldur'ahm's team." Batman corrected him. "What happened? Why aren't you the leader?"

Robin hesitated, weighing his response carefully.

"It seemed like the right thing to do at the time."

Batman nodded.

"Once your training is complete you will assume your role as your team's leader, and there will be no reason for you to envy the Titans."

Robin chuckled.

"You mean you're gonna get me a hot girlfriend?"

"You have a sense of humor, unlike …."

"Don't tell me … unlike your Robin."

YJ-Robin scanned the hallway and gave Batman the all clear sign. Without making a sound they proceeded to Rupert Thorn's office.

_**-(scene break)-**_

The electric kettle whistled that it was ready and Beast Boy poured its boiling hot contents into the brown teapot that was already populated with three bags of raspberry leaf tea. The steaming contents filled the teapot and began to brew the tea. After setting the timer he went to the cupboard and pulled out a bag of wasabi flavored tortilla chips and poured himself a tall glass of lemon-lime flavored soda pop. The timer rang and he removed the teabags from the teapot, which he then placed on a tray, along with a mug, a bowl of the spicy chips and his glass of pop. He then picked it up and walked over to the couch were Raven was sitting, reading a book.

Raven was still mildly miffed that she was not allowed to rejoin the team on missions, but she accepted that the cloud had a silver lining: they had the Tower to themselves.

She was also very impressed with her beau's sudden maturity. He had not only made her some tea without being asked, he even remembered that she drank raspberry leaf tea in the afternoons.

He placed the tray on the coffee table and filled her mug with the fresh brew. She smiled as she saw that he also remembered to bring some honey to sweeten her tea. After mixing in a tiny dollop of the sweetener she sipped a sample.

"It's perfect … thank you."

"You're welcome." He replied before shoveling a fistful of chips into his mouth and washing it down with a swig of his soda pop, wiping his mouth with his sleeve.

_Oh well, nothing is perfect._ She reminded herself. _But I have to give him credit; he's come a long way._

He reached to the TV remote control and turned on the giant set. Raven took the control from him and shut it back off.

"Rae, I'm gonna miss Clash of the Planets." He protested.

The gray sorceress stood up and with the grace worthy of a ballerina removed her cape as she spun around on the balls of her feet, deftly depositing it on the couch. In the same sweeping motion she then sat down on his lap, while a very subtle smile adorned her normally expressionless face. The changeling suddenly felt the hairs stand on the back of his neck.

Raven, being the superhero that she was, had a well toned and muscular physique, in part due to Robin's aggressive training drills and also because of her partially demonic physiology. Yet as she wrapped her arms around his neck she felt soft and sensuous. He gazed into her amethyst colored eyes and began to feel lost in them. Without even thinking about it he found his lips touching hers and he felts bolts of lightning shoot down his spine.

Time melted away and the two lovers lost track of time. Sweet nothings were exchanged and they continued with their snogfest. After several minutes of lip locking they took a break. It was then that he told her that he loved her. She said nothing, but hugged him so tightly that she could have passed for Starfire. They resumed their petting session and time once again lost all meaning, until his sensitive ears twitched.

"I think they're back, Rae." He informed her between kisses.

Raven stopped kissing him, which didn't surprise him. He knew she was still very uncomfortable with public displays of affection, but in his opinion the private ones more than made up for the lack of public displays. Then, much to his surprise, Raven resumed kissing him.

"I don't care." She replied.

A few moments later the sliding doors swished open and the sound of footsteps could be heard entering the room. Beast Boy was clearly able to discern each one. Robin's metal tipped shoes had their own signature metallic ring; Cyborg's massive mechanical feet could wake the dead while Starfire's boots had alien soles that emitted a strange squishy sound.

The changeling, who still had his eyes closed as he smooched his gray sweetheart, heard a fourth pair of feet enter the room.

"I think we have company Rae, they brought someone home with them …"

Raven made a mental note to have them continue the make out session later in the privacy of her room, and released her green beau. She turned to see who the guest was.

And scowled at her nemesis.

"What is she doing here?" She snarled.

_**-(scene break)-**_

Aquaman and Kaldur slowly swam back to Atlantis after a grueling day of training. The young Atlantean's limbs were sore from the long and intense workout, which had mercifully come to an end for the day. Still, he kept his protests to himself and remained silent during the journey back to the palace. Aquaman glanced over his shoulder and smiled at his young protégé.

"Why don't you go ahead and take the evening off? You don't need to stay at the palace."

After a pregnant pause Kaldur replied.

"Batman said that we were not to do that."

"Is Batman the king of Atlantis?"

"No sir, he is not."

"Then go, you have earned it." Aquaman replied as he veered off, quickly disappearing into the murky depths.

Kaldur stopped swimming and hovered in place, vacillating on what to do next. So much had happened in the past few days and the prospect of being permanently trapped in this universe was becoming more real by the moment. It was a situation he didn't want to accept, and yet he felt overwhelmed by it. He resumed swimming, absentmindedly making his way into Atlantis. By now the citizens of the underwater realm were growing accustomed to seeing him again and they no longer stared and gawked at him. He hated to admit it, but he was beginning to feel at home.

"Kaldur?"

The sound of the familiar voice woke him up from his funk.

"Tula … forgive me … I did not see you."

"Are you OK? You looked spaced out."

He nodded.

"I have much on my mind … do you have some time to spare?"

She beamed as she replied.

"For you, always … why don't you come inside?"

It was only then that Kaldur realized that he was in front of the house where Tula lived with her parents. Her mother was inside, preparing the evening meal and brightened when he saw the dark Atlantean.

"Kaldur! It is so good to see you! Please tell me that you will be staying for dinner."

He bowed politely as he replied.

"I would be honored."

Tula's mother laughed in reply.

"Come now, there is no need to be so formal, my future son-in-law. Now why don't you and Tula wait in the living room while I finish with preparing dinner, and don't offer to help." She chuckled. "We both know you're a terrible cook."

A shiver went down Kaldur's spine. This woman, who was for all practical purposes a complete stranger, knew him as well as his own mother. Kaldur thought about his mother, how she was probably mourning his loss. He understood the principles of advanced physics and knew that the thought was incorrect, from his quantum perspective she didn't exist, at least not from any reference point in the current universe. Yet he remembered her, so as far as he was concerned that made her as real as anything around him.

"You know me too well." He replied politely as Tula led him to the living room. They both sat down together on the couch and she looked deep into his eyes, cupping his face with her palm.

She then leaned forward and kissed him. He did not resist and returned her affection; she then hopped onto his lap and wrapped her arms around his neck, and the resumed kissing. He knew that it was the wrong thing to do, but he didn't care. She was his again, perhaps more than she ever was back at home. Nevertheless, he paused and pulled away from her.

"Tula, this … we should not be doing this."

"But Aquaman man said that there was virtually no chance of finding your home. Can't you see Kaldur, this is your new home … don't you want me, don't you love me?"

"More than you can imagine Tula. But think about it, what would happen to us if the way back to my universe is found? What would happen to you? You would lose me for a second time."

She shook her head.

"That won't happen."

"But what if it does?"

She paused before answering, which she did with steel clad determination.

"Then I will go back with you."

He stared at her, completely stunned.

"Tula, you cannot do that. What about your parents?"

She buried her face in his chest.

"It won't be easy, but if I must I will leave them behind. They will understand."

"No, I cannot do that to them."

The sound of a clearing throat was heard. They both turned and saw Tula's mother standing at the doorway.

"Do not worry Kaldur; Tula has my blessing to return with you if it becomes necessary."

Kaldur nodded and took Tula's hands into his own.

_**-(scene break)-**_

"What is she doing here?" Raven snarled.

Robin crossed his arms as he locked eyes with his dark teammate.

"Terra showed up again when we engaged Red-X."

"So you invited her to dinner?" Raven shrieked.

Robin sighed. He knew that Raven didn't like Terra. Heck, he didn't care for the geomancer. She was a loose cannon, even when she wasn't being treacherous. He also knew that the blond had ulterior motives regarding Beast Boy. He sighed. Maybe Batman was right, romantic entanglements had no place on a team of superheroes.

"We need to discuss how we're going to cooperate with her in the future."

Raven scowled at her leader.

"Robin, have you lost your freaking mind? Terra isn't a Titan and she won't rejoin the team."

Terra sauntered over to Raven, smirking as she approached.

"Oh don't worry Rae; I don't want to join your little club."

"I know what you want Terra. And you can't have him."

Terra grinned.

"I thought we were going to discuss crime fighting."

Raven began to crackle with dark energy, her eyes glowing an ominous obsidian black. Terra responded in kind as her own eyes began to glow yellow. Beast Boy watched with trepidation, wondering why he attracted scary girls with terrifying powers.

"Both of you, give it a rest!" Robin howled. The two girls backed down.

"Sorry Robin." Terra apologized.

"I don't think this is going to work Terra." Robin commented. "How can we fight the bad guys if we're fighting each other?"

Terra shrunk back, looking contrite.

"I promise that I'll behave Robin, but you know I don't need your permission to fight criminals, I just thought it would work better if we cooperated.

"I don't trust her." Raven remarked dryly. "She's been nothing but bad news from the day we met her."

Terra knew it was time to make her move, to make Raven look bad while she made herself look good.

"Paranoia will destroy ya Raven, or have you forgotten who saved your sorry ass the other day? I could have let that Slade-bot carve you up like a Thanksgiving turkey and BB would be all mine now. But I didn't have to do that. I'll win him back the old fashioned way."

Raven snarled. The memory of that hated day still haunted her. For her there was nothing worse than owing the wretched blond her life. But to hear her promise to steal Gar from her in such a cocky, arrogant manner, it was more than she could take.

"You haven't changed, you're the same old self centered, double crossing bitch you've always been. You don't deserve our trust or friendship and you certainly don't deserve Beast Boy!"

Terra turned to the changeling and gave him a seductive smile.

"Do you really like her BB? I mean, just look at her, she's the real monster."

Terra's tactic once again backfired.

"In case you haven't noticed, I have a monster buried deep inside of me." He snarled at her. "Get it through your head Terra, there never was anything between us, you lied to me from the beginning and I'll never trust you with my heart again, never."

Terra looked stunned.

"You mean you're picking her over me?"

"Yeah, duh! "

The blond shook her head in disbelief.

"But why? Why her?"

Beast Boy sighed in exasperation.

"Because I love Raven."

"But you used to love me."

"I did, but now I know that I can't trust you."

"And you trust her?" Terra asked in disbelief.

"You bet, I trust Raven with my life and my heart."

"Then maybe you should marry her." Terra replied in a voice dripping with spite and contempt.

"That's a great idea Terra, I think I will!" He replied.

"You'll what?" Robin exclaimed.

Beast Boy began to fidget nervously with his fingers.

"Well … you know … when we're older … I mean … only if Raven wants to."

Robin decided to regain control of the melee that was forming around him.

"I don't know if this is going to work Terra. I just don't see how we can cooperate."

Terra's demeanor immediately changed.

"Whoa, let's not rush to conclusions Robin. Look, I'll behave myself, I promise. I won't even talk to Raven, except professionally."

Robin looked lost in thought.

"Ok, but only until Beast Boy recovers." He said as he handed Terra a communicator. "You won't have access to the Tower unless you're with another Titan. Understood?"

Terra nodded as she took the communicator from Robin.

"Thanks Robin, I guess it's time for me to leave."

"We'll be in touch Terra."

After Cyborg escorted Terra out of the Tower Raven spoke up.

"I still think we're making a mistake."

"I know, but right now we really need her help. As soon as Beast Boy's recovered we won't work with her anymore." Robin added. "It's been a long day, let's go out somewhere for dinner."

The team immediately agreed.

"Let's meet here in an hour. That should give everyone time to get ready."

The 5 Titans separated, heading off to their rooms, except for the Chromatically Challenged Couple™, who headed off to Beast Boy's room. Once they were in the privacy of his sanctum they both sat down on his lower bunk, which had been made.

"I see your room is still clean." She remarked.

He grinned nervously while rubbing the back of his neck.

"Well, you said wouldn't come in here if it was messy."

"Yes, I did." She paused. "Gar, did you really mean what you said? Or did you just say it to make Terra angry?"

"Uh yeah, I did kinda want to piss her off … but … I did mean it."

"So you proposed to me?"

He swallowed hard.

"I guess I did … I mean I know were still underage an all that … so … well … I mean I would like to … when we're older and stuff ... you know"

"Are you certain of this?" She asked in her monotone. "You know that I'm not like other girls. Terra is right … I am a monster."

"You're not a monster Raven."

She looked at him with a very soulful expression, one he hadn't seen for a long time, only once in fact, after her told her she wasn't alone.

"And you really do trust me with your heart? You aren't afraid that I'll hurt you?"

"Of course I trust you; I know you would never hurt me."

"I've been cruel to you in the past, or have you forgotten?"

"No, I remember, but I had it coming, I was a pest back then."

Raven chuckled softly.

"More like a pain in the neck sometimes."

She fell silent and looked lost in thought.

"We need to think about this Gar. Part of me wants to say yes. It is customary to marry at our age in Azarath, but that wouldn't work so well here on Earth. I also don't want to say yes and then wait for years until we get married."

"Hey don't sweat it, I mean it's not like I dropped down onto my knees and proposed."

"Actually, the way you did it means more to me than some staged ritual … you understand that I'm not saying no, right?"

He beamed at her.

"How about … we're pre-engaged?"

She raised an eyebrow.

"Pre-engaged? What's that?"

"You know, the whole promise ring thing."

Raven nodded her understanding.

"If you give me a promise ring, I will accept and wear it."

The young couple exchanged a tender kiss before heading off to join their friends for dinner.

_**-(scene break)-**_

Looks like both teams have had an unexpected wrench thrown into the works. I still owe you a visit with YJ-Flash and the Flash.

And thanks for the reviews.


	14. He has a cute girlfriend

Two blurs streaked down the main boulevard in Central City, one yellow and one red. A long trail of dust trailed behind them, leading out into the plains where they emerged from. In addition to the wall of dust there were dozens of dust devils left behind in their wake, each one twisting like a wobbly spinning top as one by one they petered out and lost their momentum, dissolving into thin air.

The yellow blur came to a screeching halt on the corner of Main Street and Lincoln Avenue. The red blur changed direction and returned to the same intersection where it also stopped.

"Why did you stop here?" The Flash asked his sidekick.

YJ-Kid Flash pointed at the restaurant that stood on the corner. A vegetarian restaurant.

"What happened to Salvatore's Pizzeria? It's supposed to be here!"

The Flash laughed.

"It's never been here."

The young speedster gave his mentor a worried look.

"No way, you mean there's no Salvatore's in this universe?"

The elder Flash patted his sidekick on the shoulder.

"Relax, it's on the corner of Market St. and Cleveland."

"Well, that's a relief!" The boy replied in a deadpan serious voice.

"It's been a long day Kid Flash, how about we get a few pizzas to go?"

The boy grinned. His mentor back home would never have said that.

"You gotta deal!"

After ordering their pizzas the two local superheroes stepped outside and ran to the top of the tallest hill in the area, they would return in about 15 minutes to collect their pizzas. Flash had wanted to wait at the pizzeria while the Italian disks were baked, but Wally asked him to join him at the top of the hill.

The hill provided a decent view of the city, which was 24 miles away. A layer of hazy smog hung over the city late in the afternoon and was thicker than usual.

"What's up Wally? I don't think you came out here to admire Central City's brown cloud."

The young boy kicked a stone; he clearly wasn't ready to talk. Then, after emitting a heavy sigh, he came clean.

"How does he do it?"

"How does who do what?" Flash asked with a hint of impatience.

"I'm talking about your Wally."

"OK. That helps, but I'm still at a loss. What does he do that you can't?"

The young man opened his mouth and raised his hand, his index finger pointing, but no words came out as he censored himself.

"Well?"

Wally crossed his arms and frowned.

"He has a girlfriend."

Flash erupted in laughter.

"Who, Jinx? Believe me, that's nothing to be jealous of."

"Yeah, I know, she was one of the Hive-5."

"She was the leader of the Hive-5." Flash corrected him.

The boy looked away and kicked another rock.

"She's still a girl. A cute girl."

The Flash crossed his arms in a relaxed gesture and smiled.

"OK, so which one is it? The blond or the Martian?"

Wally swallowed hard.

"Or is it one of the Titans? It's Starfire, right? Look, she's Robin's girl, so you might want to look elsewhere…"

"I know she's Robin's girl, it's not her!"

A worried look jumped onto Flash's mug.

"It isn't Raven, is it? Trust me; you can do better than …."

"Raven is Beast Boy's girl!" Wally snapped.

"She is? When did that happen? And why? Is Beast Boy really that desperate?"

"Just after we got here … Raven isn't that bad … she is kinda cute … and has a hot bod."

"And a temper to match it … OK, so who is it then?"

Kid Flash shuffled on his feet, trying to buy time.

"It's Artemis … I like her a lot … but she totally hates me."

The senior hero grinned.

"I see, let me guess … you want some advice on how to win her over, right?"

The yellow clad boy nodded eagerly.

"Well, I really can't help you there. I can teach you how to engage deadly villains and how to use your super speed to perform some nifty tricks, but when it comes to the ladies … well … each one is different."

"So you're saying that you don't know."

Flash vacillated before answering.

"In a nutshell … that's correct. But I do have some advice … don't try to impress her … it just comes across as goofy and … desperate. Just be yourself, Wally."

"What if that doesn't work?"

"There's more than one fish in the sea."

The young speedster heaved a gloomy sigh.

"Look, if it'll help I can ask Green Arrow if she's said anything about you."

Wally shook his head.

"No! Don't do that! That would be so lame!"

The Flash guffawed.

"You're right. Look, you'll see her again once the training is over. Maybe she'll realize that she missed you."

"Maybe." Wally replied in a dejected tone. "She needs someone to make fun of."

The Flash slapped him on the shoulder.

"Let's go, those pizzas should be ready now."

_**-(scene break)-**_

The Titans were surprised at Robin's choice of restaurant for the outing. Usually, he would take them to the wedge shaped pizzeria downtown, or when he was feeling really generous he took them out for Chinese.

Tonight was different. He took them to the new Japanese restaurant that was the talk of the town. Being who he was, it wasn't hard to secure a reservation at the last minute. Upon arriving they were quickly seated and the waiter took their orders, starting off with a round of sushi for everyone (including tofu sushi for Beast Boy). After a few minutes the waiter returned with their seafood and rice appetizers, which they all began to consume quickly as they happily bantered with each other. The evening was moving forward swimmingly, that is until Starfire opened her mouth.

"Raven? When will you and Beast Boy be having your first bumgorf?" She asked innocently.

Raven choked on her sushi and Beast Boy had to slap her on her back. After regurgitating it she turned to the Tamaranian and glared at her.

"What. Are. You. Talking. About?"

Starfire began to press her index fingers together, in her own anime like style.

"You and Beast Boy are now betrothed, am I correct? I only assumed that since you are now promised to each other that you would begin the intimate relations."

Raven turned to Beast Boy, who had a silly and nervous grin plastered on his face.

"Don't get your hopes up buster, it isn't gonna happen!"

She then turned back to Starfire.

"We are neither betrothed nor engaged Starfire."

The Tamaranian became crestfallen.

"I apologize friends, and am sorry to hear that Raven has rejected friend Beast Boy's romantic offer. I only assumed that you would have accepted his offer Raven. Please forgive me for my imperti …."

"I didn't reject his offer."

Raven noticed that Cyborg and Robin were now leaning over the table, keenly interested in what she was going to say next.

"Raven, Beast Boy … is there something we should know?" Robin asked.

Raven rolled her eyes.

"Fine, if you must know, Garfield is going to give me a promise ring. Now can we change the subject?" She growled dangerously.

"Whoa, so you guys are serious about this?" Cyborg gasped.

"I said, I don't want to talk about this now."

Starfire was clapping.

"This is glorious! Beast Boy and I will go out tomorrow and shop for a ring!"

Raven planted her face in her palm.

"For the last time, I don't wanna talk about this. At least not here."

As usual, Robin stepped in to regain control of the situation.

"We need to respect Raven's privacy, especially when we're out in public. Anyway, what we really need to talk about is how we're going to work with Terra."

"Oh, this just keeps getting better." Raven interrupted, her voice dripping with sarcasm.

Robin frowned at the sorceress.

"I know you're not happy about this Raven, but until Beast Boy recovers we need to backfill him. None of the honorary Titans are available, and Titans East can't spare anyone."

"We're better off without her."

"She's going to be involved whether we like it or not Raven. If we work with her then we'll have some control over her actions. Red-X got away because we weren't working as a team."

Raven crossed her arms and frowned.

"You're our leader Robin, and I'll do what you tell me to do. But I still think it's a bad idea."

_**-(scene break)-**_

A month had elapsed since the truce with Terra was formed. Raven returned to active duty just a couple of days later, which left Beast Boy alone in the Tower during missions, which he nervously monitored via the operations console in the common room, frustrated that he couldn't be out there with his friends, covering their backs.

Especially Raven's back.

Much to everyone's surprise, Terra behaved with utmost professionalism, both during the missions and afterwards. There were neither jabs at Raven nor any Beast Boy related innuendo, which had the gray sorceress wondering what was really going on. Within a few weeks Terra began to return with the team to the Tower after the missions were completed, when Robin debriefed everyone regarding their performance. She sometimes even stayed for dinner if the mission timing was right.

Raven remained cautious and stuck to Beast Boy like glue while the Geomancer was around. She was also quick to show Terra her promise ring. Terra didn't say much, other than to complement Beast Boy on selecting such a classy ring. Starfire was quick to point out that she helped him pick the ring with small emeralds and amethysts embedded in it.

Beast Boy's recovery was coming along nicely. He had daily healing sessions with Raven, where he removed his shirt while she worked on his bullet wound, which the young couple seemed to enjoy beyond the obvious therapeutic reasons. The changeling also began to work out in the gym on a daily basis and felt stronger with each passing day.

One evening, after a routine mission where they apprehended some run if the mill bank robbers, they were gathered around the dinner table, chowing down on some of Cyborg's "patented" four meat spaghetti for dinner (except for Beast Boy of course) when the changeling had an announcement to make.

"Guys! I've got good news! The doctor says I'm ready to return to active duty next week!"

Starfire hugged and kissed him, while Cyborg and Robin congratulated him in a manlier manner. Raven, as expected, was subdued and would most likely celebrate the good news with her beau later in the privacy of one of their rooms. Terra was unexpectedly taciturn.

"I need to use the little girl's room." She announced in a monotone worthy of Raven.

Robin was about to ask Starfire to escort Terra to the restroom, but had a change of heart.

"You know where it is Terra. And when you're done we're all going out to celebrate Beast Boy's recovery."

"Karaoke!" Beast Boy shouted while Raven rolled her eyes at his excessive enthusiasm.

"That sounds like fun!" Terra enthused. "I'll be quick!"

Terra dashed out of the common room, making a beeline to the restroom.

And ran past it.

She dashed into the hanger, where the egg shaped alien organic ship was still resting. As she ran up to M'Gann's ship she reached into her utility belt and pulled out a small syringe. She screwed a huge needle onto the syringe and plunged it into the giant egg.

The Martian ship quivered as the needle sank into its flesh, violating its body with impunity. Terra quickly pulled back on the syringe's plunger, quickly filling it with healthy and fluid tissue. She hastily disassembled the syringe and tossed the needle down a nearby incinerator chute and capped the syringe's tip before storing it back in her utility belt.

She ran out of the hanger and made a beeline to the restroom. That part of her subterfuge was actually true; she needed to use the toilet. She had been sitting on the throne for just a minute when a loud rap was heard on the bathroom door.

"Terra, are you in there?" Robin's voice came through the door.

"I'm here. Sorry it's taking me so long, I'm a little constipated." She lied.

"Too much information Terra, just meet us in the common room when you're done."

Terra heard Robin walk away and she heaved a sigh of relief.

"That was too close." She muttered to herself, sotto voce.

_**-(scene break)-**_

Batman sat in front of his console, reviewing the search results. He shook his head as he shut the console down and stared out of the space stations' window at the great void that was the universe. The number of stars in the universe, while mind boggling, was finite. The number of universes was not, as they were innumerable, infinite. This of course made his job difficult, even if he could cull the number of realities to search using the quantum signatures from the Young Justice League. Unfortunately the number of candidate universes kept growing, and was now over 200 billion. The number was growing faster than they could rule out known duds.

At this pace it could take over 300, 000 years to find the source universe. The probability of finding it within a reasonable amount of time, say 30 years was 1 in 10,000.

Those weren't good odds.

"Any luck Bruce?"

The Dark Knight didn't need to turn around to know who was there.

"None. Hal, are you sure that Guardians won't help us?"

"Sorry Bruce, I've asked them and they said that this was too trivial an issue for them."

"I never liked those jerks." Batman mumbled.

"Sounds like they're staying here for the long haul. How's their training coming along?" Hal asked.

"Better than expected, these are some really talented kids. They'll be ready on time."

"What happens then?" Hal queried.

"We're keeping our promise. We're going to deploy them, unsupervised, on their first mission."

"Really? So you think they'll be ready?"

"Without a doubt." Batman replied.

"So where are you sending them? Gotham? Metropolis? London? Paris? Tokyo?"

Batman shook his head.

"None of those."

"So where are you sending them?"

"Jump City."

"What? Jump City? Isn't that the Teen Titans town?"

Batman turned and glared at the Green Lantern.

"Not for long."

_**-(scene break)-**_

"You're late." The deep monotone voice chastised her.

"We went out to celebrate Beast Boy's recovery. You can't blame me Slade; your place is kind of a downer."

"We're running out of time Terra. I know you have an unhealthy obsession with Beast Boy, but I need those samples."

"You have them." She answered as she produced the vial from her utility belt. "I've done my part; now release me from the curse."

Slade took the vial from Terra and quickly examined it under a microscope.

"Well done apprentice, are you sure the Titans remain unaware of our deception?"

"They don't have a clue, not even Raven, and she always watches me like I'm a shoplifter. Of course she thinks I'm there to steal BB from her. She doesn't have a clue."

"Your final intention is to steal the green fool from her, so she was right about watching you. Excellent redirection Terra. I must say that I'm proud of you."

"What about the curse Slade? I fulfilled my end of the bargain."

Slade chuckled.

"That you have, unfortunately I still need you Terra, so the curse remains … for now."

"That wasn't the deal!" She hissed. "You promised to free me."

"And I will, when the time is right. Be patient, Terra."

"NO! I did what you asked. You can't change the deal!"

Slade stood up, towering over the blond earth bender.

"I can and I have. And if you persist with that attitude I can change it again." He rebuked her in his monotone.

Slade gestured and Terra's ring finger began to petrify, and the stony effect soon engulfed her hand and started to make its way up her arm.

"OK, OK, I get the message."

Slade gestured a second time and Terra's arm was once again flesh and blood.

"What do you want me to do?" She asked in a defeated tone.

Slade stared at her with his single eye. For the longest time he said nothing, the silence in the room was only interrupted by the never ending sound of gears turning.

"You will find out when the time is right." He finally replied.

Terra felt a shiver work its way down her spine.

"Why are you staring at me like that?"

Slade approached the terrified girl, and cupped her cheek with his hand.

"You are very lovely young woman, Terra."

Terra gasped, fully understanding what Slade was implying.

"No! I won't! I'd rather die than let you touch me!"

Slade chuckled.

"Have no fear, Terra. I learned a long time ago to never mix business with pleasure. You can save yourself and your virginity for Beast Boy … assuming he survives the destruction I have planned for the Titans."

Terra watched Slade walk away from her, feeling angry and powerless. Tears dripped down her face. Then Slade stopped and turned around.

"And don't try what you did last time, removing him from harm's way. If you do, I'll destroy the ring and you will be stone forever."

"If you're gonna kill him, then I have nothing to live for." She choked.

"Nonsense … we always have something to live for … and besides … who says he won't survive? Now get some rest, you're still backfilling for Beast Boy for another week."

Terra turned around and left without saying a word. She silently walked down the long hallways in Slade's lair until she reached her room. She closed the door behind her and checked for any surveillance devices and found none.

She then sat down on the edge of the bed and reached into her utility belt, retrieving her most prized possession: the pictures she and Beast Boy took together in the photo booth at the amusement park on that fateful night, the night she betrayed the only friends she ever had.

She handled the tiny pictures with the greatest reverence, like they were holy relics, as if they were the Holy Grail or pieces of the True Cross. She stared at them for the longest time.

And began to weep.

_**-(scene break)-**_

Ok, I think we're getting the plot rolling again.


	15. Old Wounds

The giant space station was gently spinning, like a top in slow motion. The large glass windows kept the precious air inside and the cold, deadly vacuum of space outside. Unlike in the more popular science fiction shows space was actually a silent place and the only sound heard in the giant control room, with its 360 degree view, was the gentle murmur of the ventilation system, which pumped heated air into the huge room.

Batman traced his hand over the polymer based window. It was a mere 3 centimeters thick, and was all that separated him from a cold death in the merciless vacuum of space. The glass felt ice cold to his touch, even through his gloved hands.

Cold. More than once he had been accused of being cold, of being unfeeling. Not only by his teammates in the Justice League or by his paramours in his civilian role as Bruce Wayne. Those he could cope with. Regarding the Justice League, someone had to be the level headed one, and regarding the ladies, well, he knew he didn't really have time for them as there were more important things to do.

But there was one who once called him cold and unfeeling, and that opinion reverberated all the way into his soul. On the surface it didn't make sense why he valued that individual's opinion so much, but he did, and of course he knew why. They shared a common background; their parents were murdered by thugs. Bruce thought he could save the boy and mold him into someone like himself. Of course he succeeded beyond his wildest dreams and yet at the same time he failed.

Bruce remembered well the moment things snapped between them. They were following the Joker, who wound up stealing some strange radar gear which he later used to jam the city's radar system, making aerial transport dangerous if not outright impossible. But it wasn't the Joker that tore them asunder. It was a mere lackey, a guy down on his luck that the Joker hired as a look out while they stole the equipment.

The lookout failed of course and the Dynamic Duo nearly captured the Joker, who only escaped when he launched a prototype missile at them. The Joker and his henchmen ditched their watch man as they escaped, and he fled in panic as Batman and Robin emerged from the building. With the Joker long gone he was their only connection to find him and they gave pursuit.

They chased the man back to his dilapidated apartment, where his young wife and son were waiting for him. It was a poor choice on his behalf as within moments of his arrival Batman burst through his door, shattering it into kindling, followed closely behind by Robin. The Dark Knight manhandled the lackey while his wife and son cowered in a corner, terrified. After a moment the young boy, who was about five years old, summoned the courage to speak up.

"Leave my daddy alone!"

Batman ignored the boy.

"Where is the Joker?" He snarled at the man, as he grabbed his coat by the lapels and slammed him into a wall.

"I don't know, I swear!"

"Don't lie to me!" Batman roared back as he slammed him into the wall a second time.

"I don't know! I don't work for him. A guy in a bar said he had a gig for me, an easy 100 bucks for an hour's work. The rent's overdue, I didn't know it was anything illegal, I swear!"

"I don't believe you!"

Robin turned to woman and her boy. Both were terrified and in tears.

"Batman." He whispered. "Not in front of his family."

The Dark Knight shook his head.

"We'll leave as soon as he tells us where to find the Joker."

"He doesn't know."

"He does. You're too soft Robin; eventually you'll see things my way."

Robin stepped away from Batman and headed to a window.

"I'm out of here!" He barked at his mentor as he jumped out the window.

That had been the last time Batman had seen Robin until he visited Titans Tower. And Robin had been wrong that night, the man did have a clue that eventually led Batman to the Joker.

Some people could be excused for thinking that Batman had a vendetta against his former protégé, but they would be wrong. The truth was that the Dark Knight was angry with himself. He blamed himself for not training Robin properly, and for not completing his training. At the time he had been too proud to go after the Boy Wonder, figuring that he would eventually return with his tail between his legs.

It was a few months later with great dismay that he learned his protégé had teamed up with four other prepubescent teens and formed a team. He secretly kept a close eye on them, especially when he found out that Deathstroke the Terminator, AKA Slade Wilson, had set up shop in Jump City and on more than one occasion had come within a bat's whisker of stepping in to help them. Slade was right when he taunted Robin about being sloppy. And of course there was the news that Robin had temporarily become Slade's apprentice.

_Forgive me Dick, for I have failed you._

While their success did not go unnoticed by the Batman, neither did their sloppiness nor shortcomings. The changeling, while a former protégé of Mento of the Doom Patrol, was a scatterbrain who screwed up more often than not. The bionic lad was an emotional basket case who more often than not would be easily fooled by villains. The Tamaranian was a naïve puppy who belonged in a Japanese anime show.

And then there was the demoness.

When Zatanna told Batman about Raven's true identity he was stunned. How could Robin have someone like that on his team? Was he insane?

Bruce planted his palm on the glass, feeling it literally suck the warmth out of his hand, just as his failure with the Boy Wonder sucked the pride out of his soul.

_I failed you Dick, but I'll make it right … even if you don't want me to do it._

A sliding door opened and the sound of metallic footsteps was heard across the titanium alloy floor.

"I have news Batman. Construction has begun. No one knows that we are building it."

Batman withdrew his chilled palm from the ice cold window.

"Thank you Red Tornado. Will it be completed on time?"

"It will be completed a week before the Young Justice members finalize their training.

"Thank you. If you'll excuse me, I need to return to Earth. Also, we'll need to contact the Titans and let them know that we will be taking Miss Martian's ship into our possession."

"I will take care of that." The red robot replied.

Without saying another word Batman left the room and headed for the teleportation center.

_**-(scene break)-**_

Doctor Light laughed as he snapped one of his photonic whips at the car Cyborg threw at him, slicing it half. Robin frowned as he wracked his brain to find a winning tactic to defeat the "sad small man" as Raven often called him. The problem was that today the good doctor wasn't quite so small or sad. He was wearing a new and enhanced suit that seemed to have an endless source of power, judging by the never ending blasts of raw energy that he hurled their way.

Raven tried to trap him with her dark energy, but every time she tried that he would break free using an expanding sphere of light.

"Light always triumphs over darkness Raven!" He taunted her.

Meanwhile Starfire launched a barrage of Starbolts at the Pharaoh of Photons, who easily deflected them with his shield. He then struck at her with his whip, trapping her as it coiled around her waist. The princess shrieked in pain.

"Well, well, look at what I caught on my fishing line, something pretty and orange!"

Robin threw a barrage of bird-a-rangs at the villain, which he swatted away with his hand, which glowed with luminous energy.

"If you want her to live Robin, you will do as I say!"

The Boy Wonder swallowed hard. If there was one thing Batman had taught him, it was that you don't negotiate with villains. They seldom kept their word and they would always escape, often leaving a trail of tears and destruction in their wake.

"You wouldn't dare." Robin barked at him.

"Oh, I think I would." The doctor replied as he cranked up the energy level in his whip.

Starfire let out a blood curdling scream as she fell to the ground.

"If I turn it up any higher it will slice right through her." The villain warned. "Not even Raven will be able to put her back together."

Cyborg aimed his sonic cannon at the villain.

"Don't do it, I'm warning you." He bellowed.

"It'll be the last thing you ever do!" Raven howled.

The villain grinned.

"Sorry Titans, I have all the cards. My first demand is a helicopter … oooof!"

The villain dropped his whip as a green blur slammed into him, or to be more precise it was a green ram that appeared out of nowhere. The villain crashed into a nearby wall as Robin ran to Starfire's side, quickly unwrapping the now deactivated photon whip from her waist.

"Star, are you OK?"

The alien girl wrapped her arms around her beau while Beast Boy, now back in his human form, handcuffed Dr. Light and removed his power couplings from his suit.

"BB's back in the house." He crowed triumphantly just as Terra arrived late at the scene.

Dr. Light craned his neck to face the changeling.

"You stupid, green freak …" He snarled at the changeling.

And found himself on the receiving end of glares from Raven and Terra.

"Don't you dare call my boyfriend a freak!" Raven snarled.

"What she said." Terra added.

Dr. Light gave the changeling an incredulous look.

"You have **TWO** girlfriends?" He asked.

"I'M HIS GIRLFRIEND, YOU MORON!" Raven howled.

Dr. Light continued to stare at Beast Boy.

"You're kidding? She's your girlfriend? She's scary beyond belief!"

Beast Boy gave the doctor an indignant look.

"I like scary girls."

The conversation was cut short as several police officers took Dr. Light into custody and threw him into a paddy wagon, whisking him away to the local jail. Starfire, now standing on her own two feet, approached Beast Boy and gave him a hug.

"Thank you friend, for you have saved my life."

He pecked her on the cheek.

"It was my pleasure Star. I wish I could have seen his face when I slammed him."

"It was priceless grass stain. How did you get past his force field?" Cyborg asked.

The changeling laughed.

"I morphed into an amoeba. His shield isn't air tight, so I was able to slip past it."

"And I thought you were just a pretty face." Raven added with a smirk.

"Raven's brains must be rubbing off on the green bean."

"Well done Beast Boy. Our work here is done, let's go home."

Cyborg, Robin and a still shaken Starfire got into the T-Car and headed back to the Tower. Raven spread her arms and a black disk appeared on the ground.

"Hop on." She invited him.

"So it is a taxi." He replied as they took off.

"Must you always remind me of every cruel thing I've ever done to you?"

"Nah." He replied. "Only the really big ones."

Raven cringed, remembering the time when Saiko-Tek attacked the Tower. The ink based villain stunned Beast Boy with one of his exploding shuriken. Fortunately for Beast Boy he landed on Raven's flying disk. Unfortunately she kicked him off her flying circle, mocking him saying: 'does this look like a taxi?'.

"I'm sorry." She replied sotto voce. "I'm sorry I did all those nasty things to you."

He gave her one of his signature grins.

"It's OK, don't worry about it."

Raven felt very small standing next to him. The changeling never, not once, reciprocated any of her cruel acts. She had often been the target of his pranks, but they were never mean spirited.

"I'm also sorry about what I said the other day. I should give you more credit."

He gave her a puzzled look. She sighed in reply.

"Remember? _Don't get your hopes up buster, it isn't gonna happen!_ "

He chuckled lightly.

"Oh that. You know that I … well … I don't expect … I mean … I do respect you."

"I know." She replied contritely as she reached for her belt. She extracted her promise ring from one of the compartments and slipped it on her finger (Robin had a "no jewelry in battle" rule).

"Do you ever think about it though?" She asked.

The changeling hemmed and hawed before replying.

"Is there an answer that won't get me into trouble?"

This time it was Raven's turn to smile.

"I suppose not, and you don't have to answer. You are a man after all. And I am, in your own words, 'scary'"

Beast Boy blushed, but his attention quickly changed to something else.

"Whoa! Check it out Rae!" He piped up animatedly as he gestured towards a formerly unoccupied hillside. "Someone's building something really big over there!"

The sorceress looked in the direction he was pointing and confirmed his observation.

"That is new, that hill was untouched just a month ago." She replied.

"I thought that hill was going to be part of a park."

"That was my understanding as well." She replied as she changed the direction of their flight towards the hill. As they approached the suspicious hill they both saw that the construction site was heavily guarded by well armed security guards. "Let's go get a closer look."

The changeling enthusiastically agreed with his sweetheart and Raven flew in, hiding between the trees to keep from being noticed.

"This is as close as we can get without being seen." She informed him.

"Not me." He replied as he morphed into a green falcon and took off.

"Gar! Wait!" She called out futilely as he was long gone.

The changeling casually flew around the construction site, taking in every sight with his super sharp avian eyes. At first, other than being heavily guarded nothing seemed to be unusual about the site. There were diggers all over the place and concrete was being poured left and right around the steel skeleton that was growing out of the ground like a mushroom.

He was intrigued by a large tunnel that led into the ground. It was more heavily guarded than Fort Knox and he wouldn't be able to slip past them in his current form. His curiosity got the best of him and he began to debate what sort of insect could most easily slip past the guards unseen. He wondered who might be building this apparent fortress. Slade crossed his mind first, but he quickly discarded that option as it wasn't the one eyed villain's style to build his lairs in broad daylight.

He was feeling very curious and decided that a plain old housefly would be the best choice to sneak in to take a quick peek at the innards of the long tunnel.

As he prepared to make a dive towards the cave he saw someone emerge from the tunnel. He squawked his surprise and aborted his plan to explore the cavern and instead returned to Raven, who was still hiding between the trees.

"Are you insane?" She hissed at him. "Do you want to get shot again? The place is crawling with armed guards."

He grinned at her.

"You're cute when you worry about me, Raven."

The sorceress's eyes glowed a dangerous looking obsidian black. He decided to switch gears.

"You're not gonna believe who I saw come out of that tunnel."

"Who?" She replied with a hint of impatience.

"It was Captain Marvel."

Raven looked shocked at first.

"Told ya you wouldn't believe me."

"Let's go. We need to tell the others about this." She whispered to him.

_**-(scene break)-**_

I know, the YJ's didn't get any screen time today. They're still busy training, but they're almost done and will be coming back to Jump City next chapter. I wonder if they'll invite the Titans over for dinner?

Reviews are up! Thanks! Unfortunately though, fan fictions hit counter is broken, so I have no idea how many of you are still following the story. I hope I'm no tiring you with the daily updates!

Some have mentioned that Bats is being a jerk. In the show, Robin never mentioned him by name (apparently it was licensing issue) so I took that to mean that they weren't on speaking terms and ran with it.

As for Kid Flash's identity: In Young Justice he is definitely identified as Wallace West. In Teen Titans we were never told who Kid Flash was. So he was either Wally or Bart. He seemed more Wally to me than Bart (Bart Allen is a bit of a braniac) and to have them both be Wally makes the story work better, IMO.


	16. Uninivited Guests

Kaldur swam back to the palace after having dinner with Tula's family. For this first time since arriving on the parallel Earth he was feeling … happy. His muscles were still sore from the daily training sessions and he was glad that next week would be mostly classroom time. Tomorrow was the midpoint in the training program and he was beginning to wonder what exactly would happen once they were done.

As he entered the palace through the airlock he found Aquaman waiting for him.

"Did you have a good time with Tula?" The king asked.

"Yes sir, it was a pleasant evening."

The senior Atlantean smiled at his protégé.

"Come with me Kaldur, we have much to discuss."

The two men entered the King's private office, and he closed the door behind him.

"Is something wrong?" Kaldur asked uneasily.

"Not at all Kaldur, have a seat."

The young Atlantean complied with the request.

"I just want to give you a head's up as for what is coming down the road. First of all, the search for your home universe continues. As you know the odds of finding it are miniscule, and I think you should begin to think of this Earth as your new home."

Kaldur acknowledged the statement with a nod.

"The same thoughts have crossed my mind and I am coming to terms with remaining here."

Aquaman grinned.

"Excellent! Tomorrow there will be a midterm event at the Hall of Justice in Metropolis. We're going to introduce your team to the rest of the League. And let there be no doubt Kaldur, it will be your team. There will be no chaperones or supervisors. Of course, as do all non-senior members of the league, you will report to Batman. But let there be no doubt, you won't be sidekicks anymore."

Kaldur replied with a subtle smile.

"This is good news, my king. Will you tell me where we will be deployed?"

Aquaman chuckled.

"That will be a surprise that you'll find out a month from now. I believe that you will be pleased with the choice of where you will be based."

"We are grateful for the trust the league is placing in us." Kaldur replied in a humble voice. "We will make you proud of us."

Aquaman placed a comforting hand on Kaldur's shoulder.

"Actually, there is something else I wish to discuss with you."

Kaldur gave him a puzzled look. For a moment he thought he saw a twinkle in Aquaman's eye.

"Sir?"

Aquaman chuckled.

"When are you going to take Tula as your mate?"

Kaldur gasped.

"I-I-I hadn't given that much thought." He stammered.

Aquaman tapped him repeatedly on the shoulder.

"What are you waiting for, tadpole?"

Kaldur was flummoxed.

"I don't know. What do you think, sir?"

The King grinned.

"I think after you complete your training would be a good time. That way Tula can join you on your deployment … is something wrong Kaldur?"

"Forgive me, my king. It's just that the others, they won't understand our ways. Tula will want a child … it could be … disruptive for the team."

Aquaman chuckled.

"It is true that the surface people wait until they are old and decrepit to take a mate, but why should we forsake our traditions? Do not worry Kaldur, they will accept it, and if I might add, be a bit envious of you. Healthy young men are meant to have a mate, as are healthy young women. It is not your fault that your teammates lack the maturity to take this step."

Aquaman noticed that Kaldur's thoughts were somewhere else.

"Kaldur?"

The young man snapped out of his daydream.

"Forgive me, sir. I was thinking about the Teen Titans."

"I see, what were your thoughts?"

"They do seem to be very mature, more mature than my own team. What are your thoughts about them?"

Aquaman shuffled his feet.

"They are very independent, that much is true. Garth himself is a member of their group and no longer lives with us here in Atlantis. Their organization is growing; there are even rumors of a third Tower coming soon, in Japan."

The King paused, carefully weighing his next words.

"There are some in the League who see the Titans as competitors; some even see them as a threat."

Kaldur gave him an even more puzzled look.

"I do not understand. The Titans had no counterpart in our universe so they partially remain an enigma to me, but I fail to see why they are perceived as a threat. Are they not also superheroes?"

Aquaman shuffled on his feet clearly uncomfortable with the topic at hand.

"At first they were a curiosity. Then they almost brought destruction upon Jump City when they angered the Gordanians. Had they contacted the League for help it wouldn't have come to that."

"Forgive me my king, but it is my understanding that the Titans defeated the Gordanians."

"That is true Kaldur, but they were extremely lucky. But at first they were lightweights, engaging minor villains. Had they stuck to that there would probably be no league objections to them. It was when they went after some heavyweight villains that the League became concerned. First it was Deathstroke, then Brother Blood and after that it was the Brotherhood of Evil. In both cases they were one step from disaster. The Brotherhood almost nuked Paris because of the Teen Titans."

"But they were always successful, were they not?"

"By the grace of Poseidon, yes. But the point is they were never properly trained. Robin and Beast Boy are the only ones in the original team that have any kind of proper training. In that regard the Titans East are better balanced, except for the twins. Unfortunately, as in the case of Robin and Beast Boy the others have incomplete training as well."

Kaldur nodded. "I understand Aquaman, but would it not be fair to say that they have trained themselves, much as how the founding members of the Justice League are also self taught? Did Batman or Superman have mentors?"

"A good observation Kaldur, but wouldn't you agree that training, if available, should be used?"

"Yes Aquaman, I agree."

"Good. There is one more thing, you said that you will make us proud, and of that I have no doubt. But there is more to it than that. We want you to be a light, a beacon to the Teen Titans. We want them to return to the Justice League."

"I understand, but how are we to do this?"

Aquaman paused before responding.

"You asked about where your team was going to be deployed. I will tell you, but this will remain confidential until it is officially announced, you may not tell your teammates or anyone for that matter."

"Jump City." Kaldur interrupted. "You will be sending us to Jump City."

"You sound troubled, tadpole."

"Forgive me, but I am uncertain as to how the Titans will react to this."

Aquaman once again placed a hand on his shoulder.

"I thought they were your friends, I expect they'll receive you and your team with open arms."

"Perhaps." Kaldur replied uneasily.

"Don't worry about it. And also don't worry about the wedding ceremony, I'll contact Tula's parents and we'll take care of everything. You have tomorrow morning off so that you and Tula can formalize your agreement. She may come with us the Hall of Justice on the surface if she so wishes."

Aquaman bade Kaldur a good night. As the young Atlantean returned to his room, his mind was racing as he tried to bring order to his jumbled thoughts. He was uncomfortable with the news of infringing on the Titan's turf, and was beginning to wonder if his team was being used. If there was something worse than being a sidekick, it was being a pawn.

And then there was Tula. Aquaman seemed very keen on pairing them up. Kaldur had spent some time alone with her after dinner, and the subject of marriage had been brought up, and they agreed to continue discussing it. He sighed, feeling more confused than ever. As he reached his room he decided that things needed to slow down before they could resume.

He reached for the door handle and opened it.

Tula was waiting for him in his room.

_**-(scene break)-**_

TT-Robin typed furiously at the keyboard on the operations console. He waited a few moments and frowned when the results of his query, or to be more accurate the lack of results, were displayed on the screen.

"Are you sure you saw construction on Namaqua Hill?" Robin asked. "Because according to city records there's nothing under construction there."

"Dude, we saw it with our own eyes!"

"Are you sure it wasn't a dream, grass stain?" Cyborg asked.

"I also saw it." Raven added. "And from the looks of it, it's big and a lot of it is underground."

Robin tapped the keys again, this time he had an aerial view of the hill, taken from a passing satellite. Much to his chagrin the construction site was not only real, it was abuzz with activity. They watched for a few minutes until the satellite, still following its orbit, moved out of visual range.

"Told ya!" Beast Boy harrumphed.

Robin crossed his arms and glared at the changeling.

"Are you sure it was Captain Marvel?"

Beast Boy became indignant.

"Dude, I know what Captain Marvel looks like! It was him."

Robin glanced over at Raven. Before he could ask, she answered.

"I didn't get a look, but if Gar saw him then I would assume he was there."

Robin collapsed into a chair and heaved a heavy sigh.

"This means only one thing … the Justice League is setting up shop here in our town."

"Dude! That is awesome!"

Robin glared at the changeling.

"No Beast Boy … it's not awesome. They're coming here for one reason, and one reason alone … to put us in our place."

"Aren't you being a little paranoid?" Raven asked in her monotone. "The Justice League has a global reach … maybe they just want to have a local presence."

Robin leaped out of his chair, almost apoplectic as he gesticulated with his hands.

"You don't know them Raven, everything they do has an ulterior motive. They could have at least had the courtesy to tell us they were coming to town."

"So what do we do?" Starfire asked. "Shall we go and investigate some more?"

"No, they don't know that we know."

Beast Boy gave Robin a troubled look.

"You aren't gonna go all obsessive on us again, are you Rob?" The changeling asked. "It's bad enough when you can't stop thinking about Slade, but the Justice League, they're the good guys. Hey, maybe with their help we can finally catch Slade."

As soon as the words left Beast Boy's mouth Raven slapped her forehead. She turned to her beau and whispered to him: "Why did you have to say that?"

At first Robin said nothing and merely glared at the green changeling. After what felt like an eternity the Boy Wonder finally spoke up.

"We. Don't. Need. Their. Help." He replied between clenched teeth.

Before Beast Boy could reply he found his mouth covered by Raven's dark energy and she promptly dragged him away while he kicked and flailed his arms.

"Yo Rob! Chill man! Its gonna be OK. Besides, for all we know, it might just be a training center or something else."

Robin paced around the room, while his four teammates watched, wondering what would happen next. After a few minutes he stopped pacing and turned to the bionic teen.

"Cyborg … get the T-Ship ready … we're paying the Justice League a house call."

_**-(scene break)-**_

The Hall of Justice in Metropolis was a whirlwind of activity as superheroes from the four corners of the Earth and elsewhere arrived. The main hall had been set up as an impromptu auditorium with a veritable ocean of folding chairs set up and buffet tables on the sides brimming with food and beverages which the many heroes were helping themselves to with gusto. The sounds of hundreds of simultaneous conversations echoed off high ceiling as the guests continued to arrive.

At the end of the hall a temporary stage was set up, and several microphones perched on their aluminum stands stood like silent sentinels. It was behind the stage however where the most interesting activity was taking place.

The six members of the Young Justice League were huddled together behind the stage, while their mentors looked on from the sidelines. The 6 young heroes were bantering with each other, being in touch with each other for the first time in a month. They traded stories about their training sessions and shared a few laughs.

Kaldur was subdued, even by his own standards, and seemed clearly uncomfortable. This did not go unnoticed by Robin and Kid Flash, who approached him.

"Kaldur, why so serious? Is Aquaman treating you that bad?" Robin asked.

The Atlantean acknowledged his two teammates with a nod.

"I have an announcement to make, but I decided to wait until your socializing was completed."

"An announcement? That sounds intense!" Kid Flash chimed in. He turned to the other three teammates. "Hey guys, get over here! Kaldur has some news!"

The two females and Superboy discontinued their small talk and proceeded to join the rest of the team.

"What is it?" Artemis asked. "Have they found the way home for us yet?"

Kaldur shook his head.

"We're gonna get a really cool base of our own?" Robin asked.

"Actually, my understanding is that we will, but that is not my announcement."

M'Gann regaled him with one of her endearing grins.

"So what's the news?"

Kaldur turned towards a large curtain and nodded. His five teammates saw a stunning young woman emerge from the drapes and she walked to Kaldur's side.

"Friends, I would like to introduce you to Tula."

Robin and Kid Flash began to hoot and holler their approval.

"Way to go fish stick! You gotta girlfriend!" Kid Flash cheered.

"Hey! When did you have time to find a girlfriend?" Robin asked.

M'Gann beamed and turned to look at Superboy, who appeared to be unfazed. Artemis stepped forward and offered her hand to Tula.

"Nice to meet you Tula." The blond archer greeted her.

Once the initial ruckus settled down, Kaldur spoke up.

"I am afraid that I have given you the wrong impression friends … Tula is not what you surface dwellers would call my girlfriend."

Robin leaned up to Kaldur and "whispered" in a rather loud voice: "So she's fair game?"

Kaldur chuckled.

"I am afraid not, Robin."

The Boy Wonder gave him a mischievous look.

"So is she your cousin or something?"

Tula stepped forward and smiled.

"I will be joining your team."

"Excellent!" Kid Flash bellowed. "You can't have too many hot babes on the team!"

Tula laughed politely.

"I'm sorry, I see that you are confused, which is understandable since you aren't from Atlantis."

"Well then, maybe you should explain the situation to us landlubbers." Artemis interjected as she smirked.

Tula smiled.

"It's really quite simple. Kaldur and I are betrothed and will be married by the end of the month!"

Silence.

"It's true, Tula is not joking." Kaldur added. "We decided last night to make our bond permanent."

More silence.

Finally Kid Flash spoke up.

"You're be-what?"

"They're getting married, stupid." Artemis remarked.

"I know what betrothed means Arte."

"Don't call me that."

"Uh, Kaldur, how old are you again?" Robin asked.

"I am sixteen years old. I know that by your standards I am young, but for my people this is normal."

Once again, silence.

"You sure this isn't a joke?" Artemis asked.

"We are certain. You are of course invited to attend the ceremony."

The exchange was interrupted by Batman, who signaled the seven teenagers to come onto the stage. As they emerged from the curtains they saw the throng of superheroes assembled below. Many were unknown to them. Batman indicated to them to each stand behind one of the microphones. They were joined by their mentors and in Kaldur's case also by Tula.

Batman stepped forward.

"Fellow justice league members, I thank you for coming here today so that we could introduce you to seven future members of the Justice League. In just four more weeks they will complete their training and …"

Batman's voice was drowned out by the sound of jet engines overhead. He looked up and saw an orange colored vessel floating over the Halls' giant glass ceiling. He frowned as soon as he recognized it: The T-Ship.

"What are they doing here?" He growled to no one in particular. "Who invited the Teen Titans?"

_**-(scene break)-**_

_**Looks like there's gonna be a showdown at the OK corral!**_


	17. Terra's Despair

The nighttime air was unseasonably warm in Jump City's gas lamp district. The air was pungent with the humidity as well as the odd mix of aromas that gave the district its unique aroma. The smells of restaurant food, automobile exhaust, gutter sewage and even old fashion trash rotting in dumpsters combined to create the unmistakable scent.

A lone woman walked along the sidewalk on Market Street, oblivious to the offending smells that surrounded her. She was dressed in a pair of skin tight jeans and a T shirt with a Teen Titans logo on it, both of which highlighted her exquisite and no longer juvenile figure. She reached a crosswalk and stopped as there was some light traffic even at the near midnight hour. As she waited a Cadillac Escalade pulled up, also waiting for the light to turn green. As soon as it stopped the passenger side window rolled down and a young man in his mid twenties leaned out and called out to the shapely girl.

"Hey baby, we're going to a party, wanna come with us?" He shouted.

She did not acknowledge him, or even give an indication that she even heard him.

"Aw, c'mon." He cajoled her. "We're nice guys! It'll be fun! C'mon! Get in!"

She continued to ignore him. The light turned green and the crosswalk signal switched to "WALK", which she did. The driver of the pimp-mobile pulled away, while his passenger flipped the young woman off.

"You think you're too good for us? Frak you, bitch!" He hollered as the SUV sped away.

The young woman dispassionately watched the vehicle disappear down the street while she continued to walk. After traversing three more blocks she reached her destination. It was a brick building that at one time had been an automobile repair shop. The sign above the door read "The Bebop". She grabbed the handle of the heavy wooden door, pulled it open and entered the building.

Upon entering she encountered a wall of a man. He was 6'6" tall (2 meters) and looked like a former American Football player. He gave her a quick glance and with a subtle nod of his head the bouncer indicated to her that she could enter the second set of doors, which she did.

Her ears were greeted by the sound of a harmonica, whose owner was skillfully playing the blues. There were about three dozen tables in the room, with a long bar in the back. As she made her way to the bar the harmonica player, who appeared to be a 12 year old boy, concluded his performance and was rewarded with a round of applause. He was quickly replaced by a saxophone player who also began to play a soulful piece. She ignored him as she planted her posterior on a barstool. The bartender made eye contact with her.

"I'm sorry miss, you look … young. I need to see your ID."

Without saying a word he she rummaged through her purse and after a brief search she produced a driver's license, which she handed to the barkeep. He took it from her and examined it. The name was Meredith Kurucz. After he was satisfied that the picture matched her face he placed it under a small UV light he kept behind the counter. The invisible watermark on the license appeared. If it was a fake, it was a damn good one. He handed it back to her.

"Here you go Miss Ku … how do you pronounce that?"

"KOO-roots" She replied.

The barkeep smiled.

"So what can I get you Miss Kurucz?"

"A cosmopolitan." She replied absentmindedly.

While the bartender began to prepare her cocktail the young woman turned around and took a good look at the audience. They appeared to be mostly couples in their late 20's to early thirties. There were a handful of guys who had no dates, and she saw only one other unescorted female, a plump middle aged woman who was probably going to spend the evening by herself.

"Here you go miss, one cosmopolitan."

She raised the martini glass it was served in and took a little sip.

"Thanks." She replied.

"Would you like me to run a tab for you?"

"Sure." She replied as she took another sip from her drink.

She sat still for a while, staring at her glass while the sax player continued to play. The bartender noticed her taciturn demeanor.

"You OK miss? You look … bored."

"I'm fine." She replied as she began to run her index finger along the glass's rim.

The bartender shrugged his shoulders.

"Just let me know if you need anything. If you're hungry we make some nice pizza here."

"Thanks … I'll let you know."

A waitress arrived with orders for several drinks and some appetizers, and the bartender stepped away from the young woman and became busy. It was then that the sax player finished his piece and received a polite round of applause.

As the sax player resumed playing the woman heard a voice from behind her.

"I haven't seen you here before."

She ignored the young male voice.

"What's the matter baby? Cat got your tongue?"

She raised her glass and finished the contents in a single gulp, after which she tapped on it, indicating that she wanted a refill.

"Hey, I'm talking to you."

She continued to ignore him. The bartender placed her refill in front of her.

"Do you even know who I am, babe?"

She took a sip from her drink before replying.

"Yes, I do … you're a loser."

The young man's face erupted in fury as he reached back and swung at her, launching a backhanded slap at her head. In a fluid motion she swirled around and caught his hand. She spun behind him as she twisted his hand and executed a perfect arm bar on him, slamming his face into the bar. Satisfied he was immobilized she reached for her glass and took another sip of her drink.

The sax player stopped playing and the audience turned around to see what the ruckus was at the bar. More than a few patrons laughed at the sight of the burly man subdued by the petite young woman. He squirmed as she continued to mash his face into the bar, but it was clear to everyone that he was beat.

"OK, what's going on here?" The bouncer bellowed as he arrived at the bar.

"This bitch is some kind of kung fu psycho." The trapped man howled. "I just wanted to talk to her."

"You tried to slap me." She replied in an emotionless monotone.

"Miss, you can release him. I can guarantee your safety."

The young woman glared at the bouncer.

"I don't need you to protect me." She replied as she released the man from the arm bar.

The would be Romeo nursed his stressed arm, cursing as he checked it for damage.

"You got lucky bitch. You think you're so tough with your karate. Let's go outside and settle this now!"

The young woman, who had long blond hair, smirked maliciously at her challenger. Her eyes began to glow a deep yellow.

"Anytime, loser boy."

The bouncer's eyes became wide as saucers.

"You're ... you're one of those Titans ... aren't you?" The bouncer stammered.

Terra ignored the man and finished her drink.

"Barkeep! How much do I owe you?"

The bartender stared wide eyed at the geomancer.

"Nothing, it's on the house miss." He replied in a worried tone.

She glared at the man who tried to slap her.

"Well, do you still want to go outside?"

The emasculated man pointed at her.

"Bring it on, bitch! I'm gonna tear you a new one!"

The bouncer grabbed him by the collar and lifted him off the ground.

"Are you nuts, man? She's a Teen Titan! Heck, I wouldn't mess with her!"

Terra smirked at the man as she walked away.

"See you later, loser boy!"

Undeterred he shouted back at her.

"Go ahead, run bitch, you belong with those freaks, especially the green one!"

Terra calmly marched out of "The Bebop" and resumed walking down Market Street. The street was now deserted and there was no traffic except for an occasional car that would zoom down the street, its driver not giving her a second look. The street was as lonely as she felt. That she had been misidentified as a Teen Titan did not escape her. The falsehood of the statement stung at her very soul, it was a lie that demanded to be exposed, for as much as she wished it to be true, it would never be.

And the idiot in the bar, he called Beast Boy, her Beast Boy, a freak.

_Who am I kidding? He isn't mine … he's … Raven's._

If there was a truth that crushed her soul it was that her beloved belonged to another woman, a woman who didn't deserve him. She recalled the first time she saw the ring on Raven's finger, her blood boiled. It didn't matter that it was just a juvenile promise ring. The fact remained, he gave it to her of his own free will, and it would only be a matter of time before it was replaced with a proper engagement ring and after that …

Terra shuddered at the thought of him permanently mated to the witch, for that is what she was: a monster, the spawn of a demon, creepy as only she could be.

As she continued to walk absentmindedly the past flashed before her eyes, especially the fateful night when after learning of her treachery he rejected her, and later how she came within a cat's whisker of murdering him in Slade's lair.

The tears dripped down her face. Her life was pointless, a joke. He had loved, correction, he worshipped her back then, before the betrayal. Why did she do that? Why didn't she come clean and help them defeat Slade? Things would be so different now.

And worst of all, after Slade first revived her she denied Beast Boy a second time, pretending to not know him.

"What the hell is wrong with me?" She sobbed.

It was then that Terra took in her surroundings. She had somehow wandered onto the large suspension bridge that spanned the bay. She was walking along the pedestrian section, which was enclosed inside a tunnel with lattice like walls that gave pedestrians a nearly unobstructed view of the bay while keeping anyone with suicidal thoughts from jumping off the bridge.

She stopped and took in the view, which had Titans Tower right smack in the middle. Earlier that day she saw the T-Ship take to the sky and fly away. No one was home, as the darkened Tower would confirm.

The Geomancer stared at the ring on her hand, mesmerized by it. At first it was a symbol of her newfound freedom, freedom from being trapped in stone. But now it was a symbol of everything she hated: Slade, treachery, duplicity … slavery, but most of all … herself.

With a grim sense of determination she knew what she had to do. She couldn't let him control her anymore, no matter what the cost. She couldn't allow Slade to use her as a tool to harm Beast Boy. Just as the time before she would have to do the right thing, regardless of the price.

Terra looked out over the bay and saw a tug boat towing a garbage barge.

The ring, she had to get rid of the ring, send it somewhere Slade could never find it. If she simply threw it into the bay he would eventually recover it and use it to bring her back again, her petrified form might as well point to where she threw it. It had to go somewhere where he could never find it because he wouldn't know where it was to begin with.

The trash barges were taken out to the deep ocean, where the trash was dumped and would sink miles into the ocean depths. Not even Slade would be able to find or recover it from there.

Terra held the ring with her index finger and thumb, and gently twisted it loose from her ring finger. The ring came loose and she began to remove it and stopped as she reached the tip of her finger.

Terra felt her windpipe tighten as mild panic and fear began to course through her body. There would be no coming back from this, she would be dead. Lost and gone forever, separated from him for all eternity. She choked back the tears that were welling in her eyes. Fear be damned, she would do for him, to keep him safe from Slade, even if it meant that Raven would make him hers. But at least he would be safe, and maybe … he would be happy with Raven.

"OK Terra." She whispered to herself. "You've done nothing but screw up your entire life. Now it's time to do the right thing ... for BB."

Terra removed the ring from her finger and reached back, preparing to throw it onto the barge that was now passing under the bridge.

"Beast Boy! I Love You!" She shouted as she threw the ring. Her left arm began to turn into stone, but she seemed unperturbed as the ring flew towards a large view hole in the lattice, which it would easily clear, falling into the barge below.

The ring appeared to fly in slow motion, slowly twirling in the air. As Terra watched it she felt a sense of tranquility, feeling unconcerned as she slowly became petrified. Soon she would be at peace. No more Slade, no more treachery, no more suffering.

She watched the ring approach the hole when a silver gloved hand appeared out of nowhere and caught it. Her petrifaction was still partial and she turned to see the hand's owner.

"I'm very disappointed with you, Terra. Committing suicide for a boy?"

"Slade!" She gasped as the stiffness began to take hold of her.

Slade twirled the ring in his hand.

"What am I going to do with you, child?" He replied in his monotone as Terra's petrification process completed. She was frozen into a pose that betrayed her surprise and her utter shock was frozen onto her face.

"Take her home!" Slade barked.

Three Slade-bots emerged from the shadows and lifted the now stony Terra from the bridge's walkway. Slade gestured to them to wait. He approached the petrified girl and caressed her stony face.

"I'm not finished with you Terra; in fact, I have some very exciting plans for you."

_**-( scene break )-**_

OK, I'll bet this chapter felt really random. This single scene chapter just leaped out of nowhere. We'll return to Metropolis next chapter.


	18. Batman baboozles the Titans

YJ-Robin pointed up at as the Titans' signature transport continued to hover overhead, the roar of its jet engines rumbled through the hall's glass ceiling. The other 5 and Tula looked up as well. The female Atlantean gave her fiancé a puzzled look and he leaned over, explaining to her who the orange colored ship belonged to.

"That's cool; they invited the Titans to our party!" Wally exclaimed. "You'd think they would have arrived on time though."

Kaldur shook his head.

"I do not believe they were asked to come."

"They don't strike me as the kind that crash parties. So why are the here?" Artemis asked.

Kaldur frowned, as he had a good idea of why the five west coast heroes arrived suddenly.

"Perhaps it would be best to let Batman handle this." He deflected her question away, preferring not to lie to Artemis.

As the young heroes watched the scene Superman flew up to the T-Ship, stopping in front of it, blocking its path. There were a few TV news vans parked in front of the Justice Hall, trying to get a scoop on the private event. They were about ready to throw in the towel and leave when the T-Ship showed up and Superman noticed that every TV camera was focused on him and the Titans.

Batman had sent him out to send the Titans away, by force if necessary. With the media watching this was no longer an option. The last thing the League needed was the negative publicity of having footage on the 5 o'clock news of the Kryptonian manhandling the Teen Titans. It would look even worse if they put up a credible fight.

Kal-El debated what do next. He tapped on his ear piece.

"Batman, the media is still here and they're watching."

"Great, just great … go ahead and escort them to the landing pad. I'll have Red Tornado take them to one of the holding rooms. We'll talk to them once we're done with the event."

Superman glided up to the front canopy on the T-Ship and tapped on it. Robin popped it open.

"Long time no see, Boy Wonder." Superman greeted him. "Follow me."

Robin guided the T-Ship to a landing pad and saw that Red Tornado was waiting for them as Superman flew away. The T-Ship touched down and Robin killed the engines. The five Titans disembarked cautiously from their transport, never taking their eyes off their Red host.

"Greetings. Inquiry: What is the nature of the Teen Titans visit to the Justice League?" The red robot asked.

"We want to see the Justice League's leadership team. We have some questions we want answered." Robin replied in an impatient voice.

"Please follow me."

Instead of leading them into the main hall the robot guided them to a building that resembled a heavily fortified bunker. Once inside they followed him down a long hallway into what resembled a conference room which contained a large circular shaped table.

"You will need to wait here, as there is currently an official justice league event in progress."

"What kind of event?" Cyborg asked.

The Red superhero paused before replying, no doubt running simulations to determine which would be the best reply to give.

"I am afraid that information is on a need to know basis. Your wait should not be long; I estimate that you will be received between 16 to 19 minutes with a confidence level of 98%. There are refreshments in the cooling unit and you are welcome to partake of them."

Red Tornado stepped out of the room and closed the door behind him, after which a loud click was heard.

"Need to know basis?" Cyborg howled.

"Dudes! He locked us in! What do they think we are, kids?"

"That's exactly what they think we are." Raven replied. "And that's how they're treating us."

"Yeah right, like we can't bust out of here." Cyborg harrumphed.

Starfire walked up to the door and looked at Robin, who nodded at her. She drew a fist back and punched the door. The door did not budge and it was obvious to the others that the princess's hand was smarting from the impact.

"I cannot break it." She announced.

"And I can't open a portal." Raven added.

Cyborg began tapping on a mini console that popped out of his forearm.

"The door is made of neutronium and the walls, floor and ceiling have neutronium in them. We can't punch our way out and Raven can't open a portal through it."

"Nice." Robin remarked unhappily. "The room is childproof, we're gonna have to wait for them to let us out."

Beast Boy walked up to the door, examining it carefully.

"Maybe not." He remarked before vanishing into thin air.

After a few seconds the door unlocked and they were greeted by the changeling's signature grin as he opened the door from the outside.

"Good job Beast Boy. I keep forgetting that you can morph into microscopic sized creatures." Robin congratulated him.

"There was tons of room under the bottom of the door; it was a piece of cake. So what do we do now?" The changeling replied.

Robin smacked his fist into his palm.

"It's time to crash their party."

_**-( scene break )-**_

The Titans quickly made their way out of the building via a connector tunnel. Fortunately the hallways were clearly labeled and they were soon at the entrance to the Justice Hall. They entered with the greatest of stealth and found themselves at the rear of the main hall. Robin gasped at the number of assembled heroes. He gestured to his team to hide behind the buffet tables, which they did. As they settled in a gloved hand emerged and began to scout the table's surface.

"Dude, haven't these guys ever heard of vegetarians, there's nothing but meat on this table." Beast Boy complained in a whisper. He fell silent upon receiving an elbow in his side and one of Raven's icy death glares.

"Friends, look upon the stage at the other end of the room." Starfire whispered.

At that point Batman walked back onto the stage.

"I apologize for that interruption; however it was in some ways serendipitous and even appropriate as it highlights the purpose of today's event."

Batman cleared his throat before continuing.

"I've asked all of you to join us here today because you are being introduced to the future of the Justice League. These 7 young people you see here on stage are members of the Young Justice League. Now I expect most of you are thinking to yourselves that you've never heard of the Young Justice League before, and for good reason, because until a month ago it didn't exist. Six teenaged superheroes from a parallel dimension accidentally wound up in our own universe, back home they were the Young Justice League. While every effort is being made to return them to their universe, the truth is that it is virtually mathematically impossible to locate their dimension, so these 6 young people, along with Miss Tula from Atlantis, have chosen to affiliate themselves with the Justice League."

A polite round of applause was heard.

"This is significant, as since the days when the Teen Titans rebelled against the League…"

"Rebelled?" Raven hissed. "We were never offered a chance to join the League."

"… we have found ourselves short of sidekicks to someday take our place … "

"Dude, I'm no one's sidekick." Beast Boy grumbled.

"… as nearly all junior superheroes around the globe have chosen to affiliate themselves with the Teen Titans …"

"For good reason." Cyborg mumbled.

"… which is unfortunate, as there is a clear lack of professionalism in the extended Titans team. The new Young Justice League will provide an alternative for up and coming superheroes, a more professional environment where young heroes can receive the type of training and formation they need to become fully fledged members of the Justice League."

The assembly broke into thunderous applause while the Titans stewed in their juices. As the applause faded the Dark Knight continued.

"I know that there are many of you out there who have prematurely lost your protégés to Robin and his band of teenaged heroes and wish you could get them to return to complete their training. The Young Justice League will serve as a beacon to help these prodigal sons and daughters to come home to the League. I also know that some of you admire the Teen Titans. They are of course a well intentioned group and have a few feathers in their cap so to speak. Our ultimate goal is to have Robin, Beast Boy, Cyborg, Raven and Starfire join the League themselves. They are all incredibly talented but would still benefit immensely by completing their training under the guidance of a senior Justice League member, just as the members of the Young Justice League are doing right now. In just one more month they will be ready to be autonomously deployed without any supervision."

The 5 Titans frowned at the invitation they weren't supposed to hear.

"Before we conclude, I would like to present to you the Young Justice League:"

One by one, the young heroes stepped forward as Batman introduced them.

"Artemis, disciple of the Green Arrow."

"Superboy, Superman's disciple."

"Miss Martian, disciple of the Martian Manhunter."

"Kid Flash, the Flash's disciple."

"Robin, my protégé."

"Tula of Atlantis, Aquaman's disciple."

"And the group's leader. Kaldur'ahm of Atlantis, also Aquaman's protégé. Kaldur'ahm, would you mind sharing a few words with the assembled Justice League?"

"Those double crossers!" Cyborg fumed.

"We don't know that." Raven corrected him. "They were members of the Justice League before we met them after all."

"Raven's right. We might not like this, but the YJs haven't done anything wrong. They never officially became Honorary Titans." Robin added.

Kaldur stepped up to the microphone.

"Thank you Batman, and on behalf of my team I thank the entire Justice League for bringing us onboard. The training we have received so far has been both challenging and demanding, but it also demonstrates to us that we are not being treated as sidekicks. There have been no baby steps for us, it has been 100% hit the ground and run."

He paused and cleared his throat before continuing.

"We have been overwhelmed with the trust that has been placed in us by the entire league and we hope to set a good example for all young and developing superheroes. That said, I do wish to also express my admiration for Robin and his Jump City based team. Their professionalism and independence inspired us to accept the League's offer to train so that we might become much as they are now. I hope to not alienate our new friends in Jump City but rather to once again extend our hand to them in friendship and cooperation…"

Batman interrupted the Young Atlantean.

"Then why don't you ask them right now Kaldur'ahm. They are in the rear of the room, hiding behind the buffet tables, spying on us."

Robin cursed; using what for him was an uncharacteristic expletive. He stood up, followed by his teammates. It was now evident that they had been set up. Robin cursed again, getting out of the room and into the main hall had been far too easy. He cursed a third time, knowing they had been sucker punched.

Kaldur and his team stared in disbelief.

"Thanks for setting us up, Batman." Robin hissed in anger.

"Don't blame yourself Robin, once your training is complete, this sort of situation won't catch you offguard. There's no need to stay back there. Please come forward."

The five Titans reluctantly stepped out and approached the stage. Robin was fuming, as he knew that his teammates were more competent than 90% of the assembled "adult" heroes, but Batman had gone out of his way to make them look like fools. Still he and his teammates kept their composure. They walked up the steps onto the stage and faced their friends and now rivals. Kaldur gave Robin a friendly smile and offered his hand. Robin accepted it and they shook. The audience applauded their approval.

"Who's your friend?" Robin asked as he nodded towards Tula.

"It is a situation that demands a proper explanation." Kaldur replied as he turned to Batman. "I would like to meet with the Titans in private."

"You may." Batman replied. "Take all the time you want."

_**-( scene break )-**_

Terra slowly woke up. She moaned as her whole body was consumed by an encompassing dull pain. Her limbs felt as if they were on fire and a strange and familiar tingling sensation resonated throughout her body. She felt disoriented, unable to distinguish up from down or left from right. Her mouth was dry and her head felt full of cobwebs, keeping her from being clear headed.

She tried to sit up but fell back down onto what she recognized was her own bed in Slade's lair. Suddenly she remembered what had happened: her attempted suicide and Slade's last second intervention to stop it.

As she became more lucid she also became aware that something was wrong, very wrong. The tingling sensation was beginning to feel familiar. Too familiar. And then it dawned on her just what the memory was.

Now in full control of her motor skills she sat up, her face betraying the fear she was experiencing.

It was back. The armored suit and … the implants.

"What have you done to me Slade?" She growled angrily. She hadn't seen him yet, but she knew he was there.

"I warned you Terra, anymore insubordination and I would change the deal, again. And don't think you will be able to overcome the implants like you did last time, these ones have been improved."

"I hate you!" She snarled at him.

"Not as much as you hate yourself child and I can't afford to lose my star apprentice."

Terra spat at him. Slade chuckled.

"Yes, anger, it has such a delicious satisfying taste, doesn't it Terra? Some people believe that it enhances pleasure, even sex. But I am a pragmatic man Terra, business before pleasure. I will manipulate your anger and use it as a tool to eliminate the Titans once and for all."

Terra tried to lunge at Slade, but her limbs refused to obey her will. Slade chuckled as he watched her squirm.

"It's a shame that you rebelled. I was actually going to let you keep Beast Boy as your … what does your generation call it … your 'boy toy'? Unfortunately I have had a change of heart in that matter. He will also have to be destroyed I'm afraid."

Terra's jaw trembled.

"No … please Slade … don't hurt him … I'll obey you." She muttered in defeat and total capitulation.

The towering villain stared down at his apprentice.

"That's what I want to hear Terra. We will discuss the changeling's fate at a later time. But now I want to show you something … follow me, apprentice." He replied in his trademark monotone.

Terra felt the power to control her legs return and she obediently followed Slade out of her room. Her heart felt heavy as she followed her master and she almost didn't notice the change in Slade's lair. At first she sensed that something was amiss, but couldn't put her finger on it at first, until she finally figured out what had changed.

The gears were no longer turning and the lair was now silent.

Static gears of course meant that the Slade-bot assembly line had stopped, which meant that new robots were not being built. Slade noticed her look of bewilderment.

"Yes Terra, you aren't imagining things. I have shut down the assembly line."

The geomancer followed Slade into a large cavernous room, the size of two football fields. In the past it served as a warehouse for both components and finished Slade-bots. The sight the greeted her was unexpected. The room was full of giant glass tubes, large enough to hold an adult human. There were thousands of these tubes and each one had a white sphere floating in it. The spheres in the front of the room were no bigger than tennis balls, but as they walked towards the rear of the room the spheres became larger and larger, until they were the size of a large beach ball.

But what really surprised her were the final rows, where the spheres were being decanted by … perfect replicas of Slade and herself!

As she watched the replicas drained one of the tubes and opened it. They then applied a small implant to the sphere. Terra watched fascinated as the sphere began to morph into a humanoid form. At first it was androgynous as it appeared to be neither male nor female. Soon that changed as it began to take on a female form as its hips widened and breasts began to form on its chest. As the face became defined Terra recognized it as her own. Once the body's formation was complete a unitard, identical to the ones the drone versions of herself were wearing, began to appear, covering the nakedness of the drone, which also began to adopt human coloration.

The decanted drone stepped out of the tube and walked away, entering another room. Terra stared mesmerized, still unable to believe what she had just seen.

"Beautiful, isn't it Terra? Now I can grow my army. And I can create a drone in one twentieth of the time it takes to build a robot, and the only raw materials I need are glucose and the protein compound that I extracted from the feeding solution you recovered from the Tower. And don't even get me started on the flexibility. My army can morph into any shape. They could disguise themselves as groceries and the Titans would carry their executioners into the Tower inside a grocery store bag, what am I saying, they could be the very bags that the clueless Titans will carry into their home. Oh, and did I tell you that they can morph their own weapons Terra?"

Terra stared in horror at the nightmare in front of her.

"What have I done?" She sobbed quietly.

_**-( scene break )-**_

Well, it seems you guys weren't too crazy about my all about theTerra chapter. I must admit, I'm a little surprised as I thought it was one of the best chapters in the story.


	19. Batman and Robin

Kaldur closed the door as soon as both the YJs and Titans were in the oversized conference room. This one, unlike the one where Red Tornado pretended to trap the Titans, was a real meeting room. The conference table was a long mahogany piece, there was plush carpeting in the floor and a giant view screen occupied nearly the entire wall at the end of the room. The door was made of wood and not neutronium and there were windows as well.

After shutting the door Kaldur carefully looked at the 5 Titans. A degree in psychology wasn't needed to assess their mood, as it was painfully obvious from their expressions that they were unhappy. Even Raven, who always seemed imperturbable, seemed slightly out of sorts. TT-Robin's arms were crossed and the look on his face conveyed that he was extremely annoyed, but he and his teammates remained silent while their body language screamed their displeasure. After a pregnant pause Kaldur decided to break the ice.

"We weren't expecting you here today."

"So our invitation didn't get lost in the mail after all." Cyborg commented, his voice dripping in sarcasm.

Kaldur looked uncomfortable with the situation, and decided that honesty was the best approach.

"This was supposed to be a private event. I did ask Aquaman if you could be invited, but … you are not members of the Justice League."

"And do you know why we're not members?" Raven asked. "We've never been asked. And do you know why?"

The 6 YJs flinched as they all knew the answer.

"Because I'm a demoness."

The 6 heroes looked away from Raven, their self consciousness was self evident.

"Don't turn away! Look at me, take a good look! Look at my gray skin, look at my eyes, yes look at my four demonic eyes; they only appear when I'm very angry, but they're always there, I just hide them!"

M'Gann turned back to Raven and had to stifle a gasp at the sight that greeted her. Dark tendrils were flowing out from Raven's cloak and growing out of her head.

"This is the real me. But my friends have always stood by me, always quick to remind me that I was also human, that I was worthy not only of their friendship but also their love." She remarked as she slowly reverted back to her human form. Tears were welling in her eyes.

"I am most sorry." Kaldur replied contritely. "Raven, you know that we do not see you as a monster and we are honored to know you as both a superhero and as a friend."

Beast Boy drew his one of a kind sweetheart into a hug, gently rubbing her back as he soothed her, quietly reminding her that she was special to him.

"Thank you Kaldur'ahm." She replied.

An awkward silence followed. It was obvious that no one knew what to say, until YJ-Robin decided to break the ice.

"So why did you guys come and crash our party?" He asked. "The food wasn't that good."

Beast Boy gave the Boy Wonder a harsh look.

"Dude! You mean you don't know?"

The 5 YJs and Tula responded with blank stares. Kaldur did not.

"So you know." That Atlantean replied cryptically.

"Know what?" Artemis growled. "Kaldur, is there something you haven't told us?"

Kaldur became crestfallen as he addressed his team.

"I am sorry, but I was told that this information is to remain confidential until we complete our training. I am afraid that I cannot tell you at this time."

His five teammates became agitated and formed a circle around him.

"And you expect us to trust you if you keep secrets from us?" Superboy asked.

"You know that if it was told to him in confidence he can't tell us." Tula defended her fiancé.

"Please understand, I cannot divulge this information …" Kaldur raised his hands, attempting to placate his angry teammates.

"But we can!" Starfire interrupted. "The Justice League is building a facility in Jump City. We have reason to believe that you will be assigned to it when your training has been completed."

"Kaldur! Is this true?" YJ-Robin asked.

The young leader looked troubled as he searched for a reply.

"I can neither confirm nor deny that." He replied diplomatically

Wally chuckled. "So it's true! We're going back to Jump City! Alright!"

"That is so cool! I was afraid that they were going to send us someplace boring, like Buffalo or Cleveland." YJ-Robin added as he turned to Beast Boy. "We get to hang out with you guys, it's gonna be awesome."

"No, it won't." TT-Robin interrupted.

"But why not?" M'Gann asked. "I thought we were friends."

"We are friends, but did you not hear what the Batman said earlier?" Starfire interrupted again. "He intends to use you as a means to undermine us and lure us into the Justice League."

"You make that sound like it's a bad thing." Superboy asked.

"It is." Raven added. "We have our own network of heroes. If we were to join the Justice League the worldwide network of Honorary Teen Titans would be disbanded."

"Big deal!" Connor interjected. Raven responded with a glare.

"It's a big deal to us, or have you forgotten that the extended Titans family defeated the Brotherhood of Evil?" She snapped back at him. "But I suppose such subtleties are beyond a boorish brute like you."

"What did you say Raven?" Miss Martian howled. "Connor is not a brute!"

"What I am saying M'Gann is that perhaps your boyfriend's very young brain is overwhelmed by what should be painfully obvious." Raven replied in her emotionless monotone.

"She's not my girlfriend!" Connor snapped at the sorceress.

"I rest my case." Raven calmly replied. "He might be super strong be he's also super clueless."

Superboy became enraged. "You think you're so smart because you talk in that dull monotone." He snarled between clenched teeth as he pointed at her. "Your friends might put up with your crap, but I won't, demoness!"

"Is this the part where I'm supposed to be scared?" Raven calmly replied, while Beast Boy whispered to her: "Rae, are you nuts? He's a Kryptonian."

"No! This is!" Connor shouted as he lunged at Raven, who vanished into the floor. The young Kryptonian landed on the ground with a loud thud.

"ENOUGH!" Kaldur shouted. "Superboy, what are you doing? The Titans are our friends."

Raven rematerialized at the far end of the room, and found herself on the receiving end of angry glares from her own teammates.

"This is exactly what I'm talking about. They want us to fight with each other. If we do, it'll destroy all our credibility. No one will take the Titans seriously anymore. It's exactly what Batman wants. He can't stand the idea that we've been able to not only be successful as our own team, but that we've created our own Justice League."

"Precisely, they know that if they lose all their sidekicks that there won't be a Justice League in the future." Raven added while her beau laughed.

"They'll be the Geezer League!" He giggled.

Kaldur shook his head.

"Robin, while I agree that Batman sometimes resorts to manipulation to get what he wants, it is my most sincere belief that he is not 'out to get' the Teen Titans. He is genuinely concerned for your well being."

"Dude, we've been a team for 4 years now. We've kicked some serious bad guy butt. I think we figured out how to do the job."

"No one is denying that Beast Boy, it's just that the Justice League wants to help you be even better at what you do." Kaldur reassured him.

"That's awfully presumptuous of the League."Raven added. "Gar is right; we have an envious track record. And how would they train us? Who would train me? Or Gar or Starfire? Who would be our mentors? There is no one in the League who could further our training. Gar was trained by the Doom Patrol, Starfire is a warrior of Tamaran and is the Empress at Large and I was trained by Azar herself. I am not questioning the League's sincerity, but their premise is flawed. They can't help us."

Kaldur nodded silently then responded.

"Then perhaps we can agree to cooperate, as we have in the past?"

"Maybe." TT-Robin replied. "We need to think about this."

"There is time Robin, we still have a month of training left."

Cyborg interrupted the conversation.

"I agree with Rob, we need to figure out how to make this work."

The tin man paused before continuing.

"You said you were going to explain to us who your girlfriend is."

The YJs became deadly silent upon hearing Cyborg's request, which did not go unnoticed by the Titans.

The Atlantean hesitated before answering.

"Tula and I are betrothed. Our wedding is scheduled to be performed right after the training is completed. You are of course invited to attend the ceremony in Atlantis."

This time it was the Titan's turn to be stunned and dumbfounded. Silence ensued, smothering everyone like a heavy, wet blanket and it felt just as unpleasant. After a long pregnant pause Beast Boy broke the silence.

"And people think Rae and I are moving too fast."

A chorus of nervous laughs broke out. Tula grinned in a shy way that made her look endearing.

"Yo Kaldur, you're joking, right?"

TT-Robin shook his head.

"Aqualad, I mean Garth, explained this to me once. He told me that he hasn't identified a potential mate, and that's why he's still single."

"You mean that he doesn't have a girlfriend?" The changeling added.

"Which is surprising, as he is very handsome." Raven remarked.

Cyborg guffawed.

"I still remember how you and Star went all girly when you first met him. In fact I still have a recording of that time, you even blushed Raven, you were so smitten with him. Does anyone wanna see it? I still have it in my memory banks."

YJ-Robin and Kid Flash perked up.

"You bet!" They replied in chorus.

Raven glared at the Cybernetic Titan, who quickly backpedaled.

"Uh, maybe we can watch it some other time."

Kaldur stepped in to defuse the situation.

"In my universe, Garth and Tula were a couple. I believe that their betrothal was imminent as we left our dimension."

Beast Boy still had a bewildered expression on his face.

"Aren't you guys kinda young still?" He asked.

Raven quickly stepped in.

"We shouldn't judge other cultures by our own standards, Gar. This reminds me that I have not always been faithful to my own Azarathian heritage, and that I need to reconnect with my own culture."

Raven's subtle comment did not go unnoticed by her teammates, especially not by Beast Boy. Raven had told them about Azarathian mating and marriage conventions. He was wise enough to say nothing at the moment. There would be more than enough time to chat with her during the flight home.

"So what do we do now?" Starfire asked no one in particular.

Robin uncrossed his arms.

"We're going home. But before we do that I'm going to have a long overdue heart to heart with Batman."

_**-( scene break )-**_

The metallic edges on Robin's shoes clicked rhythmically, like a metronome as he walked down the hallway with Kaldur. The Justice League's headquarters stood in sharp and harsh contrast with Titans Tower. Not only was The Justice Hall immaculate, it looked like a showcase. There were observation decks where tourists could look down into the less classified sections of the Hall. It reminded him of the tours given in old castles in Europe, especially Windsor Castle in England.

The Justice League understood the importance of good public relations and it dawned on Robin that this was something that the Titans somewhat neglected. Sure, they would sign autographs and occasionally attend a charity function, but it was clear to him that when it came to their personal lives that they valued their privacy. He knew that when the day came that the first Titan tied the knot that it would be a private affair, whether it would be he and Starfire or, shudder, Raven and Beast Boy.

Raven's words echoed in his mind_: I have not always been faithful to my own Azarathian heritage, and I need to reconnect with my own culture_. What did she mean by that? All of the Titans, except for Cyborg who was already 19, were legally emancipated minors, which meant that they didn't need adult permission to fight crime and live on their own. It also meant that if they wanted to take a spouse they also wouldn't need an adult's permission. It suddenly dawned on Robin that life might be getting more complicated back in the Tower.

"We have arrived Robin." Kaldur announced.

Robin looked up and saw an ordinary looking office door that could have belonged to just about any middle manager in an average business, except for the nameplate on the door, which simply read: "Batman". Robin knocked politely on the door.

"Enter." A monotone voice replied.

Kaldur nodded at Robin and murmured 'Good luck' before turning and leaving. The Boy Wonder stared at the doorknob, pondering what awaited him on the other side of the door. With steely determination he grabbed the doorknob as if he meant to strangle it, wrapping his strong fingers around it. Bracing himself, he twisted the knob and pulled the door open.

"Hello Dick, please close the door behind you and have a seat."

Robin politely complied with both requests and sat down. Before Batman could say anything else the Boy Wonder took the initiative.

"When are you going to forgive me Bruce?"

"Is there anything to forgive?"

Robin narrowed his eyes. Bruce was being disingenuous, again. Some things never changed.

"You know what I'm talking about."

"Perhaps you should enlighten me."

Robin felt his blood pressure rise, but he was prepared this time. He wouldn't let Bruce get to him.

"I ran away and started my own team, and now we're stealing your thunder, not to mention your sidekicks."

"Is that what you think this is really all about?" The Dark Knight asked his former protégé.

"Spare me the whole 'we just want to help you' spiel. We both know that's not true. This is about control Bruce, about you controlling everything."

"That isn't true Dick. Not by a long shot."

Batman rose from his desk and approached Robin, who scowled at his former mentor.

"That's a load. My Titans are more competent than any none core Justice League member. You opened the doors to those lightweights, and you did that so you could control them. But you aren't gonna control us!"

"No, that's incorrect."

Robin felt his patience running out. He knew what he had to say next, not that it made it any easier.

"You have to let it go Bruce."

"Let what go?"

Robin sighed. This most definitely was NOT going to be easy.

"Look, it's not like I don't understand. We both lost our parents to criminals. I think I've moved beyond that Bruce, but you haven't. You want to control everything because of what happened to your folks, because of the powerlessness you felt as you watched them being murdered. You know I've been there too Bruce. Maybe it was easier for me because at first I thought it was just an accident."

Batman stared at him dispassionately. He had hit the nerve, and hard.

"We aren't God, Bruce. Mistakes will happen. But you have to trust people. But you never learned to trust anyone, not even me or Babs. The world is too big Bruce; you can't do it by yourself."

"That's just an excuse for being lackadaisical." The Dark Knight growled.

"Are you saying that my team is careless or lazy? We've accomplished things that even you and your precious League failed to do. Let me tell you something Bruce, my Titans are just as committed and competent as anyone in your Justice League. That isn't the issue. What you can't handle is that we have lives."

"That is your excuse for allowing romantic entanglements with your teammates?" Batman interrupted, his voice dripping with contempt.

"Hey, don't blame me that you didn't have the guts to do it. I never understood why you blew off Selina Kyle! You were perfect for each other. She actually loved you Bruce, and I think that deep inside your obsessed soul that you loved her too. And that's too bad, because maybe if you got laid once in a while you wouldn't be such a jerk!"

Batman glared back at his former apprentice.

"So how long have you been sleeping with the princess? And I can only assume that Beast Boy and the demoness are sexually active as well."

"No one is sleeping with anyone Bruce, not that it's any of your business. And what Raven and Beast Boy decide to do, that's up to them." Robin seethed in reply.

"So if they decide to shack up, you wouldn't say anything? I expected as much, you're nothing more than a bunch of horny teenagers living together…"

Robin spun around and hit Batman in the jaw with a powerful right jab. Bruce stumbled back and fell over his desk, crashing onto the floor.

"We're through Bruce!" Robin screamed as he made a horizontal gesture with is hand. "I thought that maybe if we talked we could find some middle ground, but I was wrong."

"You often are wrong, more than you think or know." Batman replied as he stood up rubbing his jaw.

"Listen to me, because I'm only going to say this once. You keep the Young Justice League out of our way. The Teen Titans are Jump City's guardians. We like Kaldur and his team, and if they cooperate with us then everything will be fine, but if you try to use them to undermine us, you'll get to see upfront and in person just what my extended team of 'sidekicks' is capable of."

"We'll do what we think is right." Batman retorted.

Robin marched out of Batman's office and slammed the door behind him.

"I knew coming here was a waste of time!" Robin's voice echoed in the hallway.,

_**-( scene break )-**_


	20. Raven and BB's Surprise

The mood in the conference room was tense. Kaldur left with Robin, escorting him to Batman's office. Meanwhile the two teams, each without its leader, struggled to deal with awkwardness that permeated the room like the scent of cheap perfume: overwhelming and unpleasant. Raven and Connor watched each other with a jaundiced eye. Starfire and M'Gann both looked mortified, neither girl was comfortable with the clearly "human" moment and both were at a loss at what to do. Beast Boy and Cyborg approached YJ-Robin and Kid Flash, in an optimistic attempt to break the ice. The Young Justice males understood what they were trying to do and attempted to play along with the small talk Cyborg was initiating, but all four young men were clearly feeling too self conscious to be spontaneous and the resulting conversation ended up being stiff and stilted.

Artemis sighed and walked up to Raven, who made eye contact with her.

"You sure have a way with the guys." Artemis opened the conversation with a healthy scoop of sarcasm.

Raven frowned at her.

"I only treat jerks that way. And even worse, he's an arrogant jerk."

"He actually has his good points, Raven."

"I'd like to see one." She replied in a voice as dry as burned toast. Artemis snickered as she replied.

"Well, for one thing, he is very loyal. But you have to cut him some slack Raven. I mean, he's only a few months old. Cadmus put him through an accelerated learning process to make up for the lost time, and it worked pretty well. But put yourself in his shoes Raven. He's still confused as hell, trying to make sense out of the jumble of emotions that are wrecking havoc in his mind. You could take a page from M'Gann's book. She practically has him eating out of her hand."

Raven suddenly looked shocked, as if she just had a gestalt moment.

"I never thought of it that way."

"What do you mean Raven? Thought of what?"

The sorceress looked at the young Kryptonian, who had joined the other men and was no longer looking her way.

"His emotions … I … I also have trouble with my emotions, controlling them. I used to be afraid to engage them, as my powers are tied to them. If I lose control of my emotions I could lose control of my powers."

"I see."

"But there's more. I buried my emotions, deep inside. When we first formed the Titans, I thought I wouldn't last a week, that something terrible would happen with me. So I kept everyone at an arm's length … because I didn't know how to handle my emotions … it was unnerving. I would hide in my room and never socialize with my teammates."

"So what happened?"

"Gar happened. He wouldn't leave me alone and I really treated him like crap back then. But he never gave up on me. He was the first person to tell me that he liked me. He was the first person I ever hugged. And …"

"Yes?" Artemis encouraged Raven to continue.

"I was tricked once, by wizard, actually a dragon. He pretended to be in love with me so I would help him break a curse that kept him bound to a book. I fell for him like a brick; he took advantage of all my insecurities and played me like a fiddle. When I found out that he used me I was devastated, destroyed. I barricaded myself in my room for days, until, he came …"

"Beast Boy?"

"Yes, Gar, he came and saved me. He's saved me more than once, but that day he saved my heart. No one else knew what to say to me, and they avoided me. He came and told me that I wasn't alone."

"That was nice of him. Very mature."

Raven wiped away some tears from her face.

"Oh, he wasn't mature at all." She snickered. "He and Cyborg even invented a stupid game back then they called StankBall"

"StankBall?"

"You don't want to know. Anyway, I guess I owe Superboy an apology. If anyone should understand what he's going through, it's me."

Artemis nodded.

"Go for it. I think you'll be pleasantly surprised."

After taking a deep breath Raven turned and walked towards Connor. The first to notice her approach was Beast Boy, who made eye contact and regaled her with a worried look. She smiled softly at him before approaching the young Kryptonian, who turned to face her.

"Superboy, I would like to have a word with you."

The young man scowled at her, while the other men tensed up, not knowing what to expect.

"What do you want, demoness?" He replied. "Are you going to call me more names? You think I don't know that I have people issues …"

Raven raised her hand.

"No Superboy, I've come to apologize for what I said earlier to you."

Artemis and Beast Boy looked at each other and smiled. The others were simply stunned.

"You are?" Superboy replied, also clearly caught off guard. Raven nodded contritely.

"The words I used were unwarranted and I am sorry to have used them to describe you. You are neither a brute nor a boor."

"Uh, um, thank you … Raven?"

"I know that in some circles I'm known as the 'bitchy' Titan …"

A few chuckles were heard in the peanut gallery, Raven decided to let them slide. She also noticed that Starfire and M'Gann were gushing. Tula regarded Raven with a curious expression.

"… which is not unfounded and I sometimes wonder why and how Gar puts up with me. Anyway, I've come to ask for your forgiveness." She replied in her monotone.

Superboy continued to hem and haw.

"Yeah … sure … I mean … why not?"

The 'moment' was interrupted as Red Tornado entered the room, unannounced.

"I have been instructed to escort the Teen Titans back to their transport, where their leader is awaiting them. Please follow me."

"How did it go?" Cyborg asked his fellow robot.

"I do not know. You will have to ask your leader. Now if you will please follow me."

The two teams quickly exchanged farewells, agreeing to meet up again at Kaldur's wedding in Atlantis. As soon as Red Tornado led them away and the door closed the remaining heroes looked at each other not knowing what to say.

"How can she be so hot and so creepy at the same time?" Kid Flash chortled.

His teammates gave a collective groan. Then Kaldur returned.

"Good news Kaldur! Raven apologized to Connor!" M'Gann informed him.

Kaldur appeared to be in a daze.

"Hey, fishstick! Is something wrong?" Robin asked

Kaldur did not reply.

"Fishstick!"

Kaldur snapped back to reality.

"Do not call me that. I know it is meant as a friendly nickname, but I do not like it!"

Robin raised his hands in an apologetic gesture.

"Ok, I won't. I didn't mean anything by it. But what's wrong?"

Kaldur hesitated before replying.

"I just learned that Robin of the Teen Titans struck Batman while they were arguing in his office."

The room became deathly silent and stayed that way while the 6 heroes absorbed Kaldur's news.

"So, I guess that means the Titans won't be coming to your wedding?" Artemis asked.

Kaldur shook his head.

"They are still invited. Only Aquaman can bar them from attending."

Kaldur was interrupted by sound of the door opening. The six mentors entered the room. Batman's cowl did not cover the fresh bruise on his face.

"Time to head back to continue training." The Green Arrow announced.

_**-( scene break )-**_

Robin was quietly performing the preflight check on the T-Ship when his teammates arrived, led by the red wind conjuring robot. He slammed shut the inspection hatch on the starboard engine, satisfied with his inspection, as the missing Titans were delivered to his care.

"Next time you wish to visit, please contact the League ahead of time, if anything, as a common courtesy." The robot reminded them in his synthetic voice. "Farewell, Teen Titans."

Red Tornado then turned around and left unceremoniously.

"That's one weird dude!" Beast Boy complained.

Starfire tapped her index fingers together.

"Forgive me friend, but if I am correct the Red Tornado is not a 'dude', even though he has been given a personality that is patterned on those found in human …"

"Yeah, yeah. He's a robot, big whoop!"

"Forgive me friend, but you are once again incorrect. Robots are automatons; they do not possess intellect nor consciousness. The Red Tornado possesses both, which places him in the category of artificial sentient life forms."

The changeling stared blankly at the alien princess from the stars.

"Star, is there anything sciency that you don't know?"

"I am unsure." She replied.

"What's Avogadro's Number?" Cyborg asked.

"6.02214179 times 10 to the twenty-third power23" She replied without hesitating.

"She knows everything." Raven concluded.

"Everyone take your place in the ship, we're leaving." Robin ordered his team morosely.

"Robin! How was your encounter with the Batman? Were you victorious?" Starfire asked.

"I guess it depends on your point of view." He replied somberly.

Raven sensed waves of uncertainty, remorse and anger emanate from her normally fearless leader.

"What happened Robin? Did you and Batman butt heads again?"

"Yeah, we did, but that's not all … I … I hit him."

Beast Boy's eyes nearly popped out of his head.

"Dude, no way, you punched Batman?"

"I don't want to talk about it, not now. Everyone get on board, we're leaving."

The other four Titans complied with his request and climbed into their compartments, closed their canopies and buckled themselves in. Robin flipped a switch and the T-Ships turbine engines began to whine as the powered up. Soon the whine was replaced by a steady roar and pulling back on the yoke he guided the T-Ship into the sky. As soon as they cleared the perimeter of the Justice Hall campus he throttled the engines to full power and the Titans signature transport went into a steep climb and disappeared to a large formation of nimbus clouds. As soon as they cleared the ceiling Robin filed a flight plan to Jump City and set the autopilot, after which he began to rummage through some old data he had on Slade. As he was getting focused on his task his headset came to life with Starfire's voice.

"Robin, are you OK?"

"I'm fine Star; I just need some quiet time to process everything that happened today."

"Are you sure Robin?"

"I'm sure." He replied curtly.

Starfire broke the link and sadly gazed at her boyfriend from her own compartment. While she admired his inner strength and steadfast commitment to his role as a superhero, she often wished that he would, as Beast Boy would call it, let his hair down more often. She sighed, knowing that this would not be such a time.

After an hour had passed Robin decided to check on his teammates. Since he was in the front compartment he had 4 small video monitors that allowed him to see what was happening in the other compartments. After a quick scan he saw:

Starfire was reading a Tokidoki catalog.

Beast Boy was napping.

Cyborg was … knitting? Robin immediately decided that it would be better to not know why.

Raven was reading a book, which she put down. She tapped on her headset and he lip read her saying 'Gar, wake up.' He then looked at Beast Boy's compartment, where the green Titan continued to sleep. He looked back at Raven, who was now shouting into her headset. The changeling jolted awake. Robin had a good chuckle at Beast Boy's expense.

"She's got you whipped, Beast Boy." Robin murmured to himself as he continued watching.

Beast Boy then morphed into a small snake and slithered into an air vent. Ten seconds later he reappeared in his human form inside of Raven's compartment. As Robin continued to watch, his Slade materials all but forgotten, Raven hopped onto the changeling's lap and they began what appeared to be a polite make out session.

Robin continued in his voyeuristic endeavor, not taking his eyes of the monitor. After about five minutes he gasped as what he saw.

"Second base! Raven's letting Beast Boy get to second base … I've never been to second base." He whispered in both envy and disbelief.

Raven told Beast Boy to stop and she turned angrily at the camera.

_Oh crap. She knows._

Raven scowled at the camera and a black lightning bolt shot out of her chakra stone. The screen in Robin's compartment was now filled with static as the camera in Raven's compartment had no doubt been destroyed.

"I know you're watching us Robin." Her voice echoed through the loudspeaker. "If you're so damn horny, spend some more time with your own girlfriend … AND STOP SPYING ON US!"

_**-( scene break )-**_

"Hey little Robin, what's up?"

YJ-Robin was pacing around the Batcave, looking very troubled. He turned and glared at Batgirl who just arrived in the cave, shattering the brief solace of solitude he was enjoying, if it could be described that way.

"I told you not to call me that. You know I don't like it. Why did I have to be younger than him anyway? And what the hell is wrong with him? I'd never do something like that. What is he, some kind of psycho?"

Barbara approached the younger Dick Grayson and wrapped an arm around his shoulder, after which she gave a friendly peck on the cheek. He was unable to conceal his surprise and was barely able to stifle a gasp. Barbara giggled.

"What are you talking about?" She asked him in a soothing voice.

"Haven't you heard Babs? Robin, your Robin, he decked Bruce, he punched him in the face!"

Barbara grinned.

"So that's how he got the shiner. He wouldn't tell me when I asked him. You know, he could have asked Raven to heal it; I've heard she's pretty good with stuff like that."

Robin snorted derisively. "He'd take the Joker and Harley out to dinner before asking Raven for a favor."

Barbara laughed.

"You're probably right. So what happened? Why did Robin hit Bruce?"

"No one knows and Bruce isn't talking."

"I have an idea." She interjected.

"Let's call Robin and ask him."

_**-( scene break )-**_

The loading dock was bustling with activity as the workers ignored the unseasonable rain which would have drenched them in its merciless downpour had the loading docks not had a permanent canopy to shield the loaders and the merchandise from the elements. The facility was large, with over fifty trucks being loaded by the army of forklift operators and stevedores. The facility was a formerly unoccupied factory in the city's old industrial district, a relic from the days before offshoring had devastated Jump City's industrial base. The building had been hastily converted from a factory into a makeshift distribution center. A steady stream of delivery vans arrived and unloaded their cargo which was moved into the warehouse.

The receiving staff would sort the merchandise, which arrived boxed and on pallets, by their final destinations which were documented on their shipping manifests: Gotham, Central City, Metropolis, Washington DC, New York, Chicago, etc.

The merchandise was as varied as its destinations. There were sporting goods, unassembled modular furniture, electronic devices, appliances, automotive parts, the list was endless.

A forklift, carrying a pallet full of what was labeled "laminate flooring" rolled out of the warehouse and was flagged down by a foreman, who asked for the shipping manifest.

"Todd? When did you start working here?" The pot bellied, cigar chomping foreman grunted, pleasantly surprised.

"Long time no see Rick! I started yesterday. How long have you been here?"

"Since the place opened a week ago."

"Finding this job was a life saver." Todd replied. "I've been out of work for 3 months, I was getting by helping people move stuff with my pickup truck. This place is great! They pay us every day and in cash! All under the table, so no taxes. And the pay is above market."

Rick looked at the manifest.

"Flooring material … load it on the truck in dock 37, it's going to Wichita, Kansas." The foreman instructed him.

"Sure thing. Say, how are Amy and the kids?"

"The kids are grown and we got divorced last year."

"That's too bad, I'm sorry to hear that."

"Ah, what can you do about it?" Rick shrugged his shoulders. "Let's grab some lunch today. The roach coach pulls up at 11:30."

"Works for me." Todd replied as he whisked his fork lift off to dock 37 and loaded the pallet into the trailer.

The activity on the loading docks continued at its rapid pace, the workers unaware they were being watched via closed circuit TV. Their observer was seated in a large chair, with his assistant standing at his side. The both watched the bustling warehouse activity on various monitors.

"This is going very well Terra, wouldn't you agree? In just two more weeks our army will be fully deployed around the entire nation, disguised as ordinary merchandise, hidden in plain sight. Our takeover will be swift. And this time we're prepared for any spandex clad interference."

The blond stared dispassionately at the screen and remained silent.

"Cheer up Terra. Once our conquest is complete, you can have any man you want. Trust me, they'll be lined up, hoping to curry favor with you."

"I only want Beast Boy." She replied in a listless monotone.

"If you can convince him to stay out of our way then he's all yours. Otherwise I'm afraid that he's fair game."

Terra ignored Slade's comment and instead focused on the flurry of activity on the loading docks. She knew that this was but one of many distribution centers that were shipping the shape shifting drones across the country. She also knew that the final shift that shipped the last drones wouldn't be getting pink slips.

They would be terminated.

_**-( section break )-**_

The T-Ship arrived late that evening at the Tower, which automatically came back to life, as the heating, lighting and other non essential systems came back online while the five passengers disembarked.

"Everybody get some rest. I'll brief you in the morning." He announced in a tired voice.

Cyborg yawned and wished everyone a good night as he trudged off to his room, ready to recharge his power cells while the remnant of his organic self slept.

Starfire leaned over and gave Robin a chaste peck on the cheek, after which she also said good night. Robin was now alone with Raven and Beast Boy. The tension in the air was so thick you could cut it with a knife. The Boy Wonder waited for them to leave and after hesitating he decided to take matters into his own hands.

"Look, I wasn't spying on you guys. I mean, you know those cameras are always on. You have monitors in your compartments too …"

"I leave mine off, unless there is a good reason to turn them on." Raven interrupted him.

"Really, I wasn't spying … you have to believe me."

Raven heaved an exasperated sigh. Beast Boy glanced at her.

"Maybe we should tell him, Rae."

"Tell me what?" Robin asked in a worried tone.

Raven hesitated before answering.

"You're going to find out sooner or later." She announced. "Come with us." She commanded her leader.

Robin diligently followed the Chromatically Challenged Couple™ down the long hallways and into the main stairwell in the Tower until they emerged into the common room. The motion sensors detected their presence and the lights turned on, revealing the uncharacteristically tidy room. Raven walked silently into the kitchen, filled an electric kettle with water and plugged it in.

"Sit down Robin."

The Boy Wonder wasn't feeling very wonderful at the moment. While Raven was an expert at concealing her emotions, Beast Boy wasn't and Robin read him like a book. They were about to drop a bomb on him … a big bomb.

Robin waited silently as Raven brewed herself a small teapot of chamomile tea, its unmistakable aroma wafted to his nose, which he scrunched as he didn't like herbal teas in general. Once she poured herself a mug of the aromatic brew she returned to the table, where Robin and Beast Boy were awaiting her. Robin gulped as he began to ask a question.

"Does this have anything to do with you going back to your 'roots', Raven?"

The sorceress blew over the top of her mug before taking a sip of her tea. After sighing contentedly she addressed the Boy Wonder.

"As you already know Robin I'm almost just as much an alien as Starfire. It's true that I'm half human, but I was neither born nor raised on Earth. I've done a pretty decent job of 'fitting in' and that includes integrating myself into your American culture. But make no mistake Robin, I'm not an American, I'm Azarathian, and while I've been silent about my own heritage all these years, Kaldur's engagement has served to remind me that by neglecting my Azarathian heritage that I have been denying my true self."

Raven paused to take another sip of her tea. Robin glanced at Beast Boy, who seemed unusually calm and relaxed, and perfectly content to let Raven do the talking.

"So what does this mean Raven? Do you want the rest of us to acknowledge your heritage, like having an Azarath Awareness Week? Do you want us to celebrate Azarathian holidays?" Robin asked uneasily.

Raven and Beast Boy both chuckled before Raven replied.

"That won't be necessary, Robin. All we ask for is your and everyone else's understanding."

"Sure, but … what do you want us to understand?"

Raven took another sip from her mug and Robin saw a near mischievous look form on the changelings face.

"I've asked Gar to enter into the Azarathian Courtship Rite with me."

Robin exhaled.

"So that's it? He's now your 'official' boyfriend?" He asked, the relief clear in his voice.

"Not exactly, Rob" The changeling replied.

"Oh, don't tell me you're engaged." He moaned.

"That would also be a poor analogy." She replied. "The Rite of Courtship is a one year trial period where a couple gets to know each other intimately, and at its conclusion they decide whether or not to make their union permanent. So you see, it's neither an engagement nor a betrothal as no promises to marry have been made yet."

"So in a year you guys will know if you're … going to move forward."

"You got it dude." Beast Boy replied.

Robin leaned back in his chair, clearly troubled by the news he just received.

"Raven … what exactly did you mean by 'getting to know each other intimately'?" He asked with trepidation.

Raven finished her tea and handed her mug to the Boy Wonder.

"Good night, Robin."

The couple then turned and left the common room together, arm in arm. Robin was now slack jawed as he watched them leave. As soon as they were gone he stared back and forth the between the empty mug in his hand and the door that closed behind them.

"How the hell did that happen?" He asked out loud in a weary and incredulous voice.

With no warning an incoming call came in. Robin answered it and saw Batgirl and the YJ-Robin's faces in the giant screen.

"We need to talk." Batgirl announced. "What happened between you and Bruce?"

_**-( scene break )-**_

Thanks for sticking with me this far.

I hope you aren't too freaked out with Beast Boy and Raven's news.


	21. Slades makes his move

"Let's call Robin and ask him."

Barbara Gordon sat down at the console in the Batcave and began to furiously type away while the younger Robin watched.

"The Titans have a pretty tight firewall around their communication network." He commented knowingly.

"It wasn't there last time we called them, or at least it was easier to break through. If I didn't know better, I'd think they don't want to talk to us." She remarked.

"Maybe they don't. Bruce made them look pretty stupid when he set them up. What's with your Robin anyway? Why does he take himself so seriously?"

Barbara paused her hacking and looked at the young teen.

"He used to be a lot like you, when he was your age."

"You mean he had a sense of humor?"

Batgirl shook her head.

"Believe it or not, he still has it. How can I say this? … What I mean is that he used to enjoy life more. We dated, or at least we tried to, since Bruce wouldn't allow it. Then one day Robin … he just disappeared. Bruce wouldn't talk about it and I was worried sick that something happened to Dick. He vanished for months. The next time I heard about him he was fighting off alien invaders in Jump City with some other teens. A few months later they built the Tower and the rest, I suppose, is history."

"So whatever happened back then, you think they're holding a grudge against each other?" He asked.

Barbara leaned back in her chair and crossed her arms. She heaved a heavy sigh.

"Bruce hasn't helped. Sometimes it seems that he goes out of his way to make the Titans look bad, which isn't all that hard. They're a good team, but Bruce has a point, they are still a bit inexperienced."

A whimsical look betrayed Barbara's unmasked face, as she had removed her cowl.

"They kind of remind me of myself, back when I was a 'freelancer' and was trying to get Batman to accept me as his official sidekick. I really wasn't bad at all, back then, being self trained and all. Plus I had to make all my own stuff: grappling hooks, batarangs, etc. And I was really proud of what I had accomplished on my own, but once Bruce finally took me in, well, it was a different ballgame."

Robin nodded his understanding, but then added his own two cents.

"But Bruce did train him. Look, I know the Titans aren't perfect, but they do kick butt. And they work like a team, almost like if they can read each other's minds."

Babs smiled.

"I know, Dick isn't any kind of amateur. But you see, Bruce was hoping that someday Dick would take his place as the Dark Knight, and I think he still does. By running away, I think Bruce believes that Dick rejected him."

"And you don't think so?"

"No … I don't … I think Dick just needed to find out who he really is, and I believe that he really did with the Titans."

'Little' Robin looked troubled upon hearing those words.

"And who is he?" He asked in a worried tone, realizing that perhaps he had more in common with the older, parallel version of himself than he was comfortable with.

Babs sighed again.

"It's hard to put into words." She answered evasively as she resumed her attempt to hack into the Titan's network. "Damn Cyborg, he really out did himself this time. I can't break in. Maybe we'll just call him on the phone."

"Let me take a crack at it."

Barbara ceded her seat to young Robin, who began to type away, mumbling to himself as he tried different algorithms. After a few minutes he muttered that he had an idea. After turning on his holographic arm computer he connected it to the console via a wireless interface and resumed his hacking. Babs watched as the holographic display changed colors and patterns like a digital kaleidoscope and wondered where the young sidekick procured such nifty technology.

"A three dimensional key! I should have known!" Robin chortled in triumph. "Just give me a minute."

Barbara watched as he continued to hack. Eventually the Titan's logo appeared on the screen.

"We're in!" He crowed. "Take that, Cyborg! Now to place the call."

Within moments TT-Robin's face appeared in the screen. Barbara immediately noticed that he looked dismayed and was holding one of Raven's tea mugs in his hand. His expression was replaced with one of surprise, as he clearly wasn't expecting to see their faces on the screen.

"We need to talk." Batgirl announced. "What happened between you and Bruce?"

TT-Robin looked away from the screen.

"It's none of your business." He mumbled. "And this is a private channel, only for Titans' business. So hang up."

Barbara frowned while YJ-Robin grinned.

"Tell Cyborg that his firewall sucks." The younger Robin crowed triumphantly.

"I'll be sure to remind him. Now if you don't mind, I'm going to hang up."

Robin unceremoniously broke the link and walked over to the kitchen, rinsing Raven's cup and placing it in the dishwasher. As he shut the washer the console chirped again. With a frown on his face he answered the call.

"What part of Titans' business only do you not understand?" He growled between clenched teeth.

Barbara glared back at him.

"This is Titans' business. Whatever happened between you and Bruce is also affecting you. What happened Dick? Let us help you."

"I don't need Justice League help." He snapped at her.

Her expression softened.

"Then let me help you."

Dick looked at her unmasked face, and his mind was flooded with all the pleasant memories he shared with Babs, how she had been his first crush. He recalled the first kiss they shared. He then remembered when Bruce caught them and lectured them on how they were teammates and that 'romantic entanglements' had no place on a team of crime fighting superheroes. He recalled how she stood up to Bruce and only backed off when he threatened to kick her off the team and tell her father about her secret identity. Barbara had somehow managed to resist Bruce's mind control all these years, and for that he admired her.

If there was anyone outside of the Tower he could trust, it was Babs.

"OK, but this stays between us. That goes for you too, Robin." He replied.

"My lips are sealed. Scout's honor!" Young Robin replied, making the three fingered scout salute.

"I was never a Boy Scout."

"Neither was I. But it sounds cool."

TT-Robin sighed wearily.

"Whatever. OK, here goes … I hit Bruce."

"We kinda figured that out already, that was one nice shiner you gave him." YJ-Robin snickered.

"Why did you hit him Dick?"

Robin frowned.

"He said that Raven and Star were a couple of sluts. He even accused Beast Boy and me of having casual sex with them."

"You hit him for that?" Young Robin asked incredulously.

TT-Robin leaped to his feet.

"You bet I did! Raven is like a sister to me and Star's my girlfriend. No one, and I mean no one can slander them and get away with it."

"I understand." Babs replied. "But tell me Dick, just what is going on in Titans Tower? You and Starfire have been an item since Tokyo, and that was what, two years ago? But now all the buzz is about Raven and Beast Boy. Have you seen this?"

Babs picked up the latest issue of People magazine, which had a recent photo of the Chromatically Challenged Couple™ on its cover, with the caption 'New love in Titans Tower?' Robin grimaced as he saw the magazine.

"What's wrong Dick? You look like you saw a ghost." She asked.

"Sometimes, my job really sucks." He replied morosely. "Raven and Beast Boy are formalizing their relationship."

"You mean they're engaged?" Barbara asked.

Robin shook his head.

"Not exactly. I guess Raven was serious about going back to her roots. She asked Beast Boy to join her in some sort of courtship ritual. What that means … I have no idea."

Robin was interrupted by a deep voice that made them jump out of their skins.

"I believe it's called the Azarathian Courtship Rite." Bruce interrupted them as he emerged from the shadows in the Batcave.

"You were eavesdropping on us?" Barbara hissed while YJ-Robin distanced himself from what promised to be some spectacular fireworks.

"Dick, I owe you an apology over what I said about the girls." That Dark Knight replied as he approached the screen. "I wasn't eavesdropping. I was already here when you came down. You need to be more careful, Barbara."

TT-Robin stammered as he replied.

"Thanks … I guess. And I'm sorry I hit you … wait a minute … what do you know about this courtship thing?"

Batman stood solemnly in front of the console.

"When you formed your team I did research on your four teammates. When I learned that Raven was from Azarath I expanded my investigation to learn everything I could about Azarath and its culture."

"So what is it?"

Bruce typed on a console.

"I sent you my entire dossier on Raven and Azarath. As for the courtship rite: Azarathians take marriage very seriously and they do not divorce. Because of this many never marry and wind up associated with the temple and monastery as monks and nuns."

An image of the monastery appeared on the screen, along with a picture of Azar.

"Casual sex is taboo on Azarath. It isn't illegal, but is considered culturally unacceptable. Since Raven is half demon I didn't know if she would adhere to their traditions or not. Demons do have a reputation of being very promiscuous."

"She isn't." Robin snapped at his mentor.

"I know. The fact that she entered into the Courtship Rite confirms that."

"So what exactly is this rite? Raven said it would last for a year."

Batman nodded.

"That's correct. It's hard to describe the Courtship Rite within the context of our culture. Some people would call it a 'trial marriage' …"

"You mean they shacked up?" YJ-Robin snickered. "Beast Boy's my hero."

Batman once again shook his head.

"That would be inaccurate. Couples only enter the rite if they believe they have truly found their soul mate. Of those couples who enter into it, 98 percent tie the knot at the end of the year."

Robin looked overwhelmed as he processed what he heard.

"You said 'trial marriage', does that mean that … they're …"

"… living like a married couple, in every sense of the word. Should Raven become pregnant, they have the option of ending the trial prematurely and marrying, however there is no legal obligation to marry should that happen."

TT-Robin leaned back in his chair.

"But Beast Boy is the team clown … he can't be serious about this."

"He'd better be. If they don't marry at the end, they can never see each other again. Never. So I expect that you will see some changes in your green teammate."

Robin sighed. It was bad enough to learn this news about Raven and Beast Boy, but what made it worse was that he was learning it from Bruce.

"So what do you think Bruce? You once told Beast Boy to date Raven at his own risk. Do you still feel that way?"

Batman paused before answering.

"She is still a half demoness, that hasn't changed. But she has demonstrated that she is a person of good moral character. That they took this step is not surprising."

"Not surprising? What are you talking about? They've only been dating for a few months..."

Bruce grinned over the video interface.

"I'm surprised that this caught you off guard. Think about it Dick, they've know each other for years, living under the same roof. It's been obvious even to me for years that they are attracted to each other. They did a god job of pretending that wasn't the case, especially Raven. She would slip up once in a while and unintentionally expose her feelings for him. Beast Boy's near death experience finally shook them loose. After that it was an avalanche, it was only a matter of time before they got closer. My only concern is if he can handle her temper."

Robin chuckled.

"If anyone can do that, it's Beast Boy. In the big picture, I'd say better Raven than Terra."

Bruce nodded.

"Yes, the geomancer. If there ever was someone on your team who was treacherous and untrustworthy it was her. You were wise to not bring her back into your team, speaking of which…"

Robin braced himself for it: the pitch.

"Would you reconsider having your team cooperate with us?"

If TT-Robin had a weakness it was his pride. He hated the fact that Bruce knew more about Raven and Beast Boy's marital status than he did. There were obvious advantages for working with the League, but he, correction, they had worked so hard to establish their independence. To give up their independence would be tantamount to admitting defeat.

"We value our autonomy, Bruce."

"Who says you can't keep it?"

"Are you serious?"

"I know I've come across as a bit heavy handed lately in trying to herd the Titans into the League…"

"And what about Raven? You said it yourself … she's still a demon."

"Raven would be welcome. What do you say Dick? We have so many resources that would be beneficial to the Titans."

"Like the training?" Robin grumbled.

"Yes, the training. Don't begrudge it Robin, we still train…"

"So do we." Robin snapped.

"I know. Maybe some cross pollinating would be beneficial to both groups."

Robin paused before replying.

"I'll have to ask the others."

"Of course. Take your time, maybe we can formalize this when the YJs move into their new home."

Robin crossed his arms.

"Bruce, why did the League choose to send them here?"

"I know what you're thinking Dick, that we're sending them to upstage you. But that's not why. We have intel on Deathstroke. We believe he's up to something big, really big. No one knows him better than you and your team, but we thought you might be able to use some help. Don't take this the wrong way Dick; the Titans would still be in charge."

Robin crossed his arms.

"I suppose that having some help never hurts, but I'll also have to run this by the team."

_**-( scene break )-**_

_Two weeks later …_

It was still dark outside. Robin sipped on his coffee in the common room; the lights were dimmed except for the light directly above the kitchen table, as he read another dossier Bruce had sent him on Slade. The team had unanimously agreed to cooperate with the Justice League and the first change was the new access to the League's vast databases. Robin thumbed through the contents of the thick manila folder, which contained reports that Slade had until recently been purchasing industrial quantities of glucose and dried protein compounds. He puzzled over the intel, wondering what it meant. Could Slade be manufacturing some sort of bio-weapon? Germ warfare perhaps?

As he continued to leaf through the dossier the sliding doors parted, revealing Raven's figure. As she did every morning she glided into the kitchen and began to prepare her usual breakfast: Irish breakfast tea, two slices of toast and a soft boiled egg.

"Good morning." She greeted her leader.

"Morning." He grunted back. "Did you sleep well?"

"Of course, I always do."

"And your boy toy?"

Robin did the same thing every morning. He would refer to her mate as her 'boy toy', she would counter that he was neither a boy nor her toy and Robin would laugh.

"As always, he's still sleeping, which isn't surprising as we had mind blowing sex last night."

Robin did a double take at Raven, who nonchalantly gathered her breakfast on a tray and brought it to the table.

"You weren't expecting me to say that, were you?"

"Ha,ha Raven, very funny."

She cut the top off her egg and scooped out a spoonful and popped it into her mouth.

"I was being funny?"

"Maybe the mind blowing part." He replied.

"I am a half demon Robin. We demonesses have needs, you know."

"Ok! Too much information!"

A triumphant smirk appeared on the sorceress' face.

"Will you stop calling Gar my 'boy toy'?"

"So what should I call him? Your husband, boyfriend, mate?"

Raven finished her egg before replying.

"Beast Boy works fine for me, or if you prefer you can call him Garfield."

Robin chuckled.

"You drive a hard bargain Raven. You have a deal."

Suddenly the Tower's Klaxons began to wail. Robin ran to the operations console and checked the status of the emergency, with Raven close behind.

"What is it?" She asked as the other 3 Titans rushed into the common room.

Raven noticed that Robin's face became pale.

"Yo Robin! What is it? Whose butt are we gonna kick?" Cyborg asked.

"It can't be." He replied breathlessly.

"Robin! What is happening?" Starfire asked.

"It's an invasion. The entire country is being invaded by alien shape shifters; there are millions of them, in every city. They've already overwhelmed the police and now the military is engaging them …"

"And?" Beast Boy asked.

"We're losing."

_**-( scene break )-**_

The story's climax approaches!


	22. Blitzkrieg

It was a glorious morning in Metropolis. The sun was rising into the sky, like an Apollo riding his fiery chariot. The sky was clear and the temperature was already warming up. The citizenry was out and about enjoying the beautiful day, as more than a few workers played hooky and skipped work to enjoy the what promised to be a pleasant day, joining the countless students who were already on summer break. The streets and parks were bustling with teenagers and young adults, who were having a grand time promenading, eating ice cream and scoping out who they might be able to flirt with. The retirees were also out; walking their tiny dogs and sipping on lattes in paper cups while they stopped to chat with other geezers.

A few people noticed the 3 figures flying overhead, patrolling the city from their lofty positions. Two were recognizable in their blue costumes and red capes, but few recognized the 3rd figure who had joined Superman and Supergirl in the sky. Those with binoculars could see that the third member of the patrol was a male teenager wearing blue jeans and a black T-shirt with the familiar S shaped logo on his chest.

After weeks of training Superboy was finally able to achieve sustained flight, and while he was not as proficient at it as the other two Kryptonians he was nonetheless thrilled about achieving this new milestone. As they flew Supergirl teased him, doing barrel rolls around him while giving him a ribbing for his attire.

"So Kon, are you thinking of joining us and donning the red cape?"

Connor laughed as he replied.

"I just can't picture myself in spandex Kara, I like my look."

"But you don't look like a superhero! Every superhero has his or her own look." She snickered back at him.

"You mean like how you took Kal's costume and turned it into a cheerleader's outfit? At least Powergirl has an original costume!" He snarked back at her.

Kara moved in front of Superboy, flying backwards so that they were face to face.

"Oooh! So you like boobarella, huh?" She teased him. "Does M'Gann know that you like well endowed girls? Of course since she's a shape shifter she can make hers as big you like them."

"That's not a nice way to describe your twin sister from another dimension." He replied. "Anyway, if she's your twin, why did you get the smaller set of …"

"That'll be enough!" Clark boomed from overhead. "In case the two of you have forgotten, we are on patrol."

No sooner than Superman finished chastising the two teens he noticed a disturbance on the street below. With his supervision he could see that people were running away from what appeared to be plain white humanoid creatures that were firing some sort of energy beams at random. Superman watched in horror as a young mother and her baby were hit by one of the beams and were both instantly incinerated.

"Follow me!" He barked at the two junior members of his squad. "Whatever those are, we have to stop them. They're firing indiscriminately on civilians!"

Connor felt his heart rate jump as he followed Superman and Supergirl down into the heart of the fight. There were thousands of the strange creatures spread across the central section of the downtown area, and they were mowing down people without a second thought. Clark reached ground zero first and punched the first three attackers he encountered, sending them flying into a brick wall, where they flattened as if they were made of clay. He proceeded to attack more of the strange invaders and was overwhelmed by the sheer number of them. He noticed that the Police were firing at the humanoids, but their bullets simply passed through their bodies. The police did not fare as well and were being disintegrated by the humanoids energy weapons.

"Get out of here! You can't help!" Superman bellowed at the Police as Kara and Connor joined him in the battle, pummeling the strange attackers.

Once the three Kryptonians were present the strange creatures switched the focus of their attack, and ceased to attack the civilians, refocusing on the mighty trio that continued to battle them. It was then that Connor noticed the invaders that had been converted into the equivalent of bug splat reformed themselves. He also noticed that the weapons that formed in their hands were now different. They still resembled pistols but had a different shape. The first group to reform aimed their weapons at Kal-El and fired. The Man of Steel moaned in agony and fell to his knees.

"Kara! What's happening to Kal!" Superboy shouted.

Kara's eyes widened in surprised.

"They're firing red sun beams at him. They're draining his powers!"

Kara then noticed another group of flattened attackers reform themselves. They were behind Connor and he had not seen them. Kara lunged at him, shoving him out of the way, taking the brunt of the blast herself. Superboy then had to dodge more blasts aimed at him. Meanwhile Kal and Kara were being completely subdued by the power robbing beams while some of the invaders approached them and began to wrap them in lead lined blankets that had a hint of Kryptonite on their surface. Connor understood what was happening. Kal and Kara were being captured and the lead blankets would insure that they would not recharge using Sol's yellow rays and the Kryptonite would keep them in a weakened state.

"Kal! Kara!" He shouted to them, still dodging the red rays, which now seemed to come from everywhere.

"Get out of here Kon!" Clark shouted at him as he was being wrapped in lead.

"What should I do? Where do I go?"

"Find the other Young Justice League members."

"Then what?"

Superman could no longer respond as he was now fully cocooned in lead and was being taken away by the invaders.

"Find the Teen Titans!" Kara replied just before she was sealed off and taken away.

Barely able to continue dodging the debilitating beams Superboy gritted his teeth and flew away. His mind raced as where to go next. He realized that closest YJ was Kid Flash in nearby Central City. As he streaked away at near supersonic speed he saw that the local National Guard was now fighting the invaders. It didn't take him long to see that the Guard was being routed. He turned away, with tears streaming down his cheeks and he picked up the pace as he flew to Central City, hoping that the Flash, the two Kid Flashes and Jinx would know what to do.

_**-( scene break )-**_

Artemis fired an explosive arrow at the pale figure that pursued her. Her regular arrows seemed to have no effect on the creature, which simply ignored the 5 arrows it already had impaled in its body as it pursued the archer. The sixth arrow hit its target and blew up; sending what appeared to be clay like material flying in all directions. The blond noticed what appeared to be a small circuit board on the ground and picked it up, tucking it into her belt. She reached into her quiver and cursed as half of her arrows were already spent. She tapped into her ear piece.

"Ollie! What the hell is happening? Who, or should I say what are these things?"

The Green Arrow responded immediately.

"I don't know, but I just found out that they aren't just attacking Star City, they're everywhere! There are unconfirmed reports that Superman and Supergirl were captured. Another report says that Jump City is the only major population center that hasn't been attacked yet."

"What do we do? There's thousands of them and I'm running out of arrows!"

"Get back to Queen Industries. The Arrow Plane is there. Take it and go to Jump City and join up with the Titans."

"But what about you Ollie? And why the Titans?"

"I just got a message from Batman. He thinks Deathstroke is behind this and he's in Jump City. As for me, forget it! I'm down to my last two arrows. I can't hold out much longer. I think they want to capture me, they could have taken me out already if they wanted to do so."

"But Ollie, I can't leave you behind…"

"Yes you can, now go before it's too late. The Teen Titans are going to need all the help they can …"

The Green Arrow's voice was replaced by the hiss of static. Artemis clenched her teeth and fought back the tears. She then checked the customized PDA that Ollie gave her. Queen Industries was just a few blocks away…

_**-( scene break )-**_

Miss Martian and her uncle the Martian Manhunter were busy bringing the new bioship online in the landing bay in the until then mothballed Mount Justice. Unlike the Mount Justice she knew from home this one had an abandoned feel to it, with a musty aroma that made it smell like an old basement. Her uncle didn't have a "hangout" per se like the other mentors did and it was M'Gann who suggested using Mount Justice. At first it seemed like a smart move as it was large and therefore had plenty of indoor space where she could train in privacy. On the other hand, it brought back many memories to her, memories of home which served as a reminder to her that this world, while very familiar, was not home.

The replacement biocraft had just been shipped in from Mars as a temporary replacement for the original bioship which was still recovering in the Titan's hangar. M'Gann has not been in contact with the ship due to the large distance that separated them and could only hope that Cyborg had been taking care of, as he called it "her baby". During her brief tenure in Titans Tower she watched on occasion as the bionic boy lovingly performed maintenance on his various modes of mechanical transportation. If he could show such concern for what were merely inanimate objects, she reasoned that he would be even more doting with her ailing bioship.

"It is ready M'Gann, you should be able to take it out for a break in flight."

M'Gann walked around the bioship, which was still in its winged aircraft form. She caressed it gently, feeling the ship's thoughts and emotions through her telepathic link. While her uncle watched she stepped back with a troubled look on her face.

"Is something wrong M'Gann?"

Her eyes were wide with surprise.

"The two ships made contact with each other."

"Yes, they do that sometimes. I believe the replacement ship merely contacted your ship in Jump City over a non telepathic link to retrieve your preference settings."

"It's not that! The ship in Jump City, it just told me that someone took a sample from it a few weeks ago."

"That is unexpected." J'onn replied. "Why would the Teen Titans extract a tissue sample from the bioship?"

"It wasn't the Titans. It was someone else … a blond girl."

"The geomancer. This is bad news. I will inform immediately Batman of this."

J'onn turned to the communications console that had been brought into the mothballed base and after tapping a few keystrokes Batman's face appeared on the screen. He looked battle scarred as did Robin and Batgirl who stood next to him.

J'onn! I was just about to contact you."

"Robin! Batgirl! Are you OK?" M'Gann shrieked.

"They could be worse." Batman replied. "J'onn, millions of shape shifting creatures are attacking the country. There are so many of them that they are virtually unstoppable. They also appear to be prepared for us. They captured Superman and Supergirl using red star ray beams and kryptonite. I also lost contact with Ollie."

"What about Superboy? Was he also captured?"

"I don't know, Megan, there are unconfirmed reports that he escaped."

"Who is behind this Bruce? This isn't the work of The Joining, is it?"

"Negative. At first I had the same suspicion, but it's not the Joining's style. These creatures are artificial but organic; I captured one and found this implant in it. It has Deathstroke's handwork all over it and I've traced a few stray signals coming from Jump City. I've tried to jam them but the frequency keeps changing."

"What do you think we should do?" J'onn asked.

"I'm sending all the members of Young Justice to Jump City to help the Titans bring Deathstroke down. M'Gann, take your ship and leave immediately. I'm sending your Robin and Batgirl in the Batwing. I've also sent a message to Titans East suggesting that they also go to Jump City, but I haven't heard from them. I've summoned all members of the Justice League to fight the invaders. But the outcome will be in the hands of Young Justice and the Teen Titans. They have to stop Deathstroke to stop this army."

_**-( scene break )-**_

"This is bad, really bad." Cyborg moaned while he sat at one of the backup consoles he brought into the common room. Each Titan was seated at a workstation with a grim look on his or her face.

"According to early reports Metropolis and Star City have fallen under the invaders' control. There are also reports that Superman, Supergirl and the Green Arrow have been captured." Raven announced in her monotone. Her teammates had known her long enough to hear the mild timber of worry and concern in her voice.

"I just received a message from Artemis. She's flying here in the ArrowPlane … by herself." Beast Boy added. "Kaldur, Tula and Aqualad are on their way here from Atlantis."

"I have received word from Jinx that the Flash was also captured but that he made sure the she along with both Kid Flashes got away. They are on their way here along with Superboy who escaped from Metropolis." Starfire reported from her console.

"So far there hasn't been an attack here in Jump City. But the locals aren't taking any chances. Everyone's getting out of Dodge while they can." Cyborg reported as visuals of the entire city's freeway system, tied up in hopeless gridlock, appeared on the giant TV screen.

"Good luck with that." Raven commented. "We also lost contact with Titans East and I'm having trouble locating most of the Honorary Titans."

"Batman has sent the other Robin and Batgirl here on the Batwing while what remains of the Justice League will try to recover the conquered cities. He also says that he's traced signals to control the invaders back here to Jump City, which is why he's ordered the Young Justice League to join forces with us." Robin updated the team.

"Dude! That means …"

"That Slade's behind this. Batman came to the same conclusion." Robin finished the sentence for the Changeling. "And there's more bad news. Apparently these shape shifting androids were created with stolen technology. Biological technology."

"You mean from the bioship? Nuh uh! No one's breached our security since we parked it in the hangar." Cyborg growled.

"They didn't need to breach our safe guards." Raven frowned. "Because we let her walk right in. I should have known that when Terra saved me from that Slade-bot that it was staged."

The room fell silent as the impact of their mistake hit them like a 2 by 4 across the face.

"How could we be so stupid?" Cyborg moaned.

Starfire's console beeped.

"The Kid Flashes, Superboy and Jinx have arrived." Starfire announced. Everyone else should arrive within 15 minutes."

Robin stood up and looked out the giant windows in the common room.

"Slade is saving us for last! He's toying with us." The Boy Wonder announced. "He's going to attack us with thousands of his shape shifting warriors."

"But where is his army?" Raven asked. "There's no sign of it anywhere in the city."

_**-( scene break )-**_

On a lonely, desolate beach across the bay from the tower the waves lapped on the rocky shore line. Boulder beach, because of its lack of sand and preponderance of rocks and boulders as well as its inaccessibility was not a popular beach with the locals, except for the nudists who liked the privacy it afforded them. It was still early in the morning and the sun was still rising, so the local textile free sun worshippers had yet to arrive for a day of sunbathing and wouldn't be coming anyway as the city was being evacuated.

This was fortunate for the usual beachgoers as the rocks and boulders began to morph into humanoid forms with flippers and webbed hands. The strange white creatures gathered on the shoreline, as if waiting for something.

After a few minutes a lone figure appeared in the sky, standing on what appeared to be a surfboard. She was wearing armor and her long blond hair flowed as it was caressed by the gentle morning breeze. Her granite platform landed on the beach and she stepped off and began to inspect her troops. As she completed her review the remaining Young Justice League members began to arrive.

"Remember Terra; don't attack until the remaining heroes arrive. I want to take them down all at once." Slade's voice buzzed in her earpiece.

"No problem Slade, I have this under control."

"Don't fail me Terra. I'm leaving you in charge here. The Justice League has mounted a counter attack that I need to supervise. I'll check in with you in 15 minutes. I want to see Robin and Raven's heads on a platter when we are done apprentice. Have I made myself clear? Do this and I will free you from the curse and let you keep the changeling."

"Perfectly clear Slade. See you in 15 minutes. Terra out."

As soon as the audio link was cut Terra removed a small control pad from her belt and pressed a button on it. As soon as she did the shape shifters assumed a spherical form and rested on the rocky shore, giving the beach the appearance of being carpeted with white beach balls.

She then looked down at her left arm and removed the armor that protected her forearm, exposing one of the 8 body controlling implants Slade had placed in her body. She grabbed the part of the implant that protruded from her skin and began to pull at it. The implant was more than merely grafted on her skin; it was woven into her muscles and nerves. This did not deter her as she continued to pull at it. At first the skin around it broke and she began to bleed. As she continued to pull she ripped both flesh and nerves, gritting her teeth as the pain was excruciating. With a primal scream she ripped it clear of her arm and tossed it aside, leaving a gaping, bloody wound in its wake.

She then removed the armor from her other forearm.

One down, 7 to go she reminded herself as she began to repeat the painful task. And she had to hurry; she only had 15 minutes before Slade returned.

_**-( scene break )-**_

TrueArtist asked: "Is there a slade/deathstroke in the YJL World? If there is which ep. is it?"

Slade has yet to make an appearance on the Young Justice TV show. He is a major DC villain, and while he is primarily the Titans nemesis, he has engaged other DC heroes. He was paid to murder The Atom (Ryan Choi) which he accomplished with ruthless efficiency in "Titans: Villains for Hire".

Will he ever appear on Young Justice? Who knows?


	23. Slade's Lair

YJ-Robin and Batgirl entered the common room, which was a virtual whirlwind of activity as the young superheroes already present gathered around the consoles while the giant TV screen was split into dozens of sub-screens, each one showing the ongoing battles in cities across the country. Different superheroes made their appearances: Green Lantern, Wonder Woman, Captain Atom, Black Canary, Powergirl, etc. On a one to one basis the white shape shifters posed no threat, but in their boundless numbers they were overwhelming the Justice League.

Robin had already shared the bad news about the origins of the shape shifting warriors, which M'Gann confirmed.

"Can't you control them Meagan? You should be able to override whatever Slade is using to bend them to his will." Raven asked the young Martian.

M'Gann shook her head. "Every attempt I've made to establish a telepathic link with them has failed. It's like there's a barrier. I can feel them but I can't talk to them. Somehow he's turned them into drones…"

Artemis pulled the implant she found back in Star City out of her belt compartment.

"I found this after I destroyed one of them." She remarked, handing the unusual circuit board to Cyborg.

The tin man was joined by YJ-Robin as he plugged the board into his advanced computer console. Young Robin linked his own holographic computer into the console and performed his own analysis.

"This thing has some unusual tech in it. The analog circuitry is unlike anything I've ever seen."

"Can we jam them?" TT-Robin asked.

"No, I don't think so. It has some kind randomized phase frequency key shifting. As soon as we can jam it the damn thing just jumps to another unpredictable bandwidth. It's jam proof."

"And we can forget about hacking into them." Young Robin added. "Even if we could break through the firewall, the command codes also shift and change randomly. Every time I decipher the command set, it replaces it with a new one."

"So we have to go to the source and knock out the command center." YJ-Kid Flash added.

"That will be most difficult." Starfire remarked. "We do not know the location of Slade's lair."

"Can't we just locate the source of the transmissions?" Superboy asked.

Beast Boy was studying the output on his own console.

"I've been trying that. The source also moves around. He's been using mobile phone towers, radio stations, base station repeaters, you name it. I've tried to trace it back to its origin, but every time I'm about to get past the first hurdle he switches to another mode of broadcast."

"He's planned this carefully." Raven growled. "We should have suspected this."

"But we did not." Kaldur remarked. "But we must remember that as brilliant as Deathstroke is, he is not infallible, he does make mistakes. We must find the weakness in his strategy."

"First we have to find his lair." Robin corrected the others

"How about if Wally and I go out and look for it?" YJ-Kid Flash suggested.

Robin and Kaldur looked at each other as they considered the suggestion. Having the two speedsters crisscross the city would inevitably uncover the lair.

"We should be careful. Deathstroke is probably expecting this. I'll bet he's set up traps to catch them." Artemis commented. Jinx nodded her head in agreement. Robin frowned.

"We need to find the lair; we don't have any time to spare. The shape shifters are tearing the country apart." The Boy Wonder pronounced his decision as the Tower's front door sensor announced that they had a visitor.

The giant TV switched to a view of the main entrance to the Tower. The reinforced titanium doors were shut tight as the heroes watched a lone figure approach, staggering with each step. As the blond visitor reached the door the camera zoomed in, just in time to see her stumble and fall against the metal doors, leaning against them to break her fall as she grimaced in pain. The YJs did not recognize the armor clad intruder but the Titans did.

"It's Terra! She's hurt!" Beast Boy announced the obvious as the others noticed the geomancer's bleeding wounds. Terra looked up at the camera, her face screwed with pain and she fell to the ground as her body began to convulse.

"She's lost a lot of blood, she's in shock!" Cyborg howled.

"Get her to the infirmary Cyborg!" Robin commanded.

_**-( scene break )-**_

Raven and Jinx prepared the med station as Cyborg carried the still unconscious geomancer into the infirmary and gently deposited her on the hospital bed next to all the equipment which the two magical Titans continued to set up. M'Gann and Starfire began to undress the girl while Raven turned her attention to the six oozing wounds on Terra's body. Artemis grabbed a privacy curtain and pulled it around the medical station.

"No boys allowed." She commanded the male YJs and Titans as she drew the sliding curtain around Terra.

"What happened to her?" Meagan asked. "How did she get those horrible wounds?"

Raven frowned as she got the first wound, on Terra's left thigh, to stop bleeding.

"She did it to herself." Raven droned in her monotone.

"What? Why would she do that?" Artemis asked incredulously.

"It appears that Slade has placed the implants on Terra's body. He committed such a heinous act in the past to control Terra and use her powers. She has forcefully removed them from her body." Starfire informed the others, including the boys who remained on the other side of the curtain that shielded Terra's naked body from their hungry eyes.

"She didn't get all of them off." Raven announced. "There are two of them on her spine. Slade can use those to access and control her powers. Cyborg, get in here! You need to surgically remove them."

As Cyborg breached the visual barrier of the curtain Terra opened her eyes.

"There's … no … time … Slade … back … soon." She whispered. "You have … to stop Slade."

"Where is he?" TT-Robin thundered. "Tell us Terra!" He bellowed as he barged in while Jinx covered Terra with a heated blanket as the blond was beginning to shiver.

The Geomancer summoned whatever strength she had left and replied.

"He's in the abandoned observatory in Johnson Park. His lair is underground … it's huge. He has thousands of Slade-bots there, getting in … won't be easy." She replied between deep breathes.

"Leave that to us." Superboy interjected. "We'll teach him to not mess with us."

"You need to catch him fast. If he destroys his central controller, the shape shifters will go into automatic mode and there won't be a way to stop him." Terra moaned.

"_Terra, where are you? Report!"_ Slade's voice buzzed in her ear piece, loud enough that everyone present could hear it.

"Robin, this box controls 2000 dormant shape shifters on Boulder Beach." She gasped as she handed the controller to him. She then turned to Raven.

"Raven, take this ring, and don't let Slade get it." Terra rasped to the gray sorceress as she removed the ring from her finger and handed it to Raven.

The others watched in astonishment as she began to petrify. She turned towards Beast Boy.

"I'm sorry BB; I let you down agai…."

Terra did not complete her sentence as the petrification process completed its grim mandate.

"Whoa! What happened to her?" The changeling asked.

Raven stared at the ring and her eyes grew wide as its origin became obvious to her.

"Raven, what kind of ring is that?" M'Gann queried her.

"It's a ring of Azar. Slade must have used it to bring her back from being stone."

Raven examined the ring even more carefully.

"This ring is part of a pair. It's the slave ring …"

"Which means that Deathstroke has the master ring." Tula completed the sentence. "I've seen similar rings in my sorcery classes in Atlantis."

"So what do we do now?" YJ-Robin asked as Raven stashed the ring into a compartment in her jeweled belt.

"Cyborg, lock Terra in the safe room, the one where we hid Raven from Trigon. And make sure she can't get out if she turns back into flesh and blood." TT-Robin ordered.

Cyborg gently picked up Terra's stony form and carried her away while Robin quickly conferred with Kaldur. They finalized their discussion as Cyborg returned.

"She's nice and safe. She ain't going anywhere." He announced upon returning.

"Kaldur and I have a plan." Robin announced.

_**-( scene break )-**_

Johnson Park, named after Lyndon Baines Johnson, was a popular park in Jump City. While the observatory and planetarium had been mothballed for years due to a lack of public funding to refurbish and operate them the rest of the park was very popular with the locals. It was about 2000 acres in size and in addition to the rolling hills it was famous for it housed recreational sporting facilities, a children's amusement park, several museums and the local zoo.

On a normal day the park would have been bustling with joggers, families enjoying a picnic, school children on field trips to the zoo and museums and its sports complexes would have been teeming with soccer matches and softball games.

But not today. The city's evacuation was complete and an eerie silence permeated the park. A handful of zoo employees volunteered to stay with the animals, and they had already moved the animals to their indoor enclosures before barricading themselves in the zoo's animal hospital.

The disturbing silence was finally broken when 12 young superheroes marched into the park, heading straight towards the observatory, which was surrounded by a chain link fence and signs warning would be trespassers that the observatory was closed to the general public and that anyone who entered without permission would be prosecuted, which turned out to be an empty threat as the observatory had an unauthorized and until now unknown tenant.

The young heroes prepared to engage whatever resistance they might encounter. Artemis double checked her quiver and pulled an arrow from it. TT-Robin drew several of his exploding disks, holding them between his fingers. Beast Boy was morphed into a triceratops while Starfire, M'Gann and Superboy glided above him. Kaldur and Tula primed their Atlantean weapons, the two Kid Flashes and Jinx, along with Cyborg with both sonic cannons deployed covered the rear.

Their approach did not go unnoticed by their target, since the chain link fence came crashing down as thousands of Slade-bots charged at the superheroes. TT-Robin pulled the controller Terra gave him out of his belt and pressed a button. Thousands of shape shifters emerged from the grassy knolls around the observatory, growing like weeds out of the ground and intercepted the Slade-bots. Laser blasts were exchanged on both sides as the battle erupted and both Slade-bots and shape shifters began to fall as the lasers hit their marks, leaving their targets as a smoldering mess on the ground.

As the 12 superheroes joined the battle it switched to hand to hand mode. The Slade-bots drew daggers and the shape shifters grew huge shells to protect themselves from the razor sharp blades while they attacked with what looked like bo staffs.

Superboy and Starfire joined the melee. The Kryptonian swooped in, punching out Slade-bots left and right while the princess pummeled them with her star bolts and eye beams. M'Gann used her telekinesis to make the Slade-bots malfunction, they would begin to smolder and collapsed onto the ground. Beast Boy, still in triceratops form impaled the robots with his huge horns and trampled them with his feet, morphing into a hummingbird as a barrage of laser blasts converged on the spot he occupied just a moment before.

Jinx cast her hexes which also made the droids malfunction while the two Kid Flashes zigzagged across the battlefield, deactivating the combat robots by opening their rear panels and short circuiting their power sources as they zoomed from robot to robot.

Kaldur and Tula used their Atlantean electric blades to slice droids in half while TT-Robin and Artemis pelted Slade's mechanical minions with their weapons. The battle was intense and there were many close calls for most of the heroes. Robin was grazed by a laser and Tula's arm was cut by a dagger that was thrown at her with super human speed.

Slade watched the battle on several hi-def monitors in his lair. One on one his Slade-bots were superior to the shape shifters, but he never could have manufactured them in the numbers he needed nor transferred them around the county with the same impunity with which he moved his Martian warriors. His decision to keep them in his lair had proven to be the right one.

His brilliant mind, formally trained in the art of war, was able to discern that the battle was going his way and that the Titans and their friends would be repelled. He would have to relocate as the military would no doubt soon join the young superheroes in a counterattack, but that would not be a problem.

What Slade had not counted on was Terra's betrayal. He had offered her freedom in exchange for eliminating Robin and Raven. Losing Robin as his apprentice still filled him with indignation and there was a question of payback for the time Raven gave him the beating of his life in Trigon's underground temple. Had he not been protected by the temporary immortality that the red demon gave him Raven would have killed him.

The Slade-bots were gaining the upper hand and while he chuckled in self satisfaction the one eyed villain failed to notice a portal that opened in the far corner of his lair.

_**-( scene break )-**_

Raven watched the battle uneasily on the giant TV in the common room, biting her lower lip in an uncharacteristic display of concern and worry. She couldn't take her eyes off of Beast Boy and flinched when a Slade-bot came within inches of blasting him with his high powered laser. Raven recalled the time when Slade's robots broke into a super chip facility and Beast Boy saved her from a fiery laser blast death.

"He's gonna be OK, Raven. Just relax." YJ-Robin reassured her.

The gray demoness glanced at the younger Boy Wonder, her gaze returning immediately to the screen.

"You have a high opinion of Gar. I know our Robin doesn't share your approval. Why do you look up to him when he doesn't?"

The young hero grinned.

"Look at him shape shift! He does it so fluidly. Meagan can also shape shift, but Beast Boy is awesome. He can change size and mass. And he's a good fighter too. I can see why he bagged you."

Raven raised an eyebrow.

"I beg your pardon! He did not 'bag' me. I'm not some prize to be won at a tawdry carnival game."

Robin grinned at her.

"Oh lighten up Raven, I meant it as a complement."

"Then why does it sound like an insult?" She snarled at him.

Young Robin looked into Raven's now demonic face. She now sported 4 crimson eyes. The young hero was known to be quick on his toes. But sometimes even the silver tongued inserted their foot into their mouth.

"What I meant Raven is that you're a very desirable girl and you chose to shack up with him."

"We are not 'shacked up'; we are in the Azarathian Courtship Rite. Perhaps to a young troglodyte as yourself it might appear that we are indulging in a superficial and hedonistic relationship, but I assure you that we are in what my people consider to be a sacred and holy rite."

The young lad was about to reply "is that because Beast Boy says 'thank you God' every time you guys do it?", but wisely kept his mouth shut. The near disastrous conversation was interrupted as Raven's communicator chirped three times.

"That's the signal. Are you ready Robin?"

"You bet! Let's do it."

Raven stepped behind the young Boy Wonder and spread her cape, which magically grew and engulfed Robin, morphing into a black hemisphere which phased into the floor. A spectral black bird appeared outside of the tower and flew at rocket like speed to the park. Within mere moments it flew through the observatory's outside walls like a ghost.

While Slade watched his monitors a portal opened at the far end of the room and a black hemisphere rose from the floor and vanished, exposing Raven's lone form. Her eyes were glowing white and she parted her cape. Young Robin was literally ejected from the demoness's cape and almost fell down. He adroitly regained his footing and suppressed a shiver. Beast Boy had warned him that Raven's teleportation was cold, but it was more than that … it felt … creepy.

The two heroes remained silent as Slade continued to watch his monitors and bark commands into a microphone. Raven nodded at Robin who stealthily walked up to the main control console and connected his holo-computer to it.

He began to hack into the console, breaking past layer after layer of firewalls while Raven kept a wary eye on Slade, deliberating whether or not to preemptively attack the villain. Robin continued hacking, growing impatient as he kept encountering roadblocks protecting the system. He continued to work at a furious pace and smiled when he found a backdoor into the central command processor. He began to hack the backdoor and was easily able to break the password.

And that was when alarm klaxons began to blare.

_**-( scene break )-**_

Jinx wrote: "Slade also appears in the animated film of the Justice League, "Crisis on Two Earths". In the parallel universe he was the president of United States. Besides Teen Titans I think that was his only appearance in animation."

I forgot about. And his daughter Rose, opposes the super hero tyranny and falls in love with the Martian Manhunter (the good one).

IIRC, Slade also makes an appearance in Smallville, where he is portrayed as a war criminal general with a grudge against superheroes.


	24. YJRobin and Raven

Raven almost leaped out of her boots before turning towards the younger Boy Wonder and glaring at him, he merely grinned sheepishly in reply, giving her the universal expression that said "oops!" The backdoor was clearly a booby trap and he fell for it like a chump.

Raven turned back to Slade, who barked more orders into a microphone before turning to face the intruders.

"Well, well, if it isn't my favorite Titan and demoness, and I see you brought Robin 2.0 with you. Might I interest you in becoming my apprentice young man?"Slade taunted the two heroes.

Raven froze as her mind raced. Precious time was slipping away and she had no idea what would happen next. She knew that their objective remained unchanged: Robin was to hack into Slade's central control processor and send a global cease fire command to all of the Martian shape shifters around the country. She raised her left hand and a black bubble appeared, shielding the stunned Boy Wonder from any possible attacks.

"What happened Robin?" She howled at him.

"I screwed up and tripped an alarm. Sorry!"

"Never mind, you just keep trying to break in. I'll deal with Slade!" She replied.

Raven turned and threw her arm in Slade's direction while belting a martial arts yell that would have made TT-Robin proud. A powerful surge of dark energy leaped from her hand, with a dark talon formed on its end. It was headed for Slade and it was clear that Raven wanted to get this over with quickly. Slade jumped and flipped out of the way while the black claw crashed into the wall behind him. Raven grunted her displeasure while Slade somersaulted in her direction, landing in front of her while shouting his own martial arts kiap. Raven had to duck to dodge what would have been a game ending roundhouse kick. With Slade in close quarters she stood back up and in the same fluid motion she hit him with a well placed thrust side kick which unfortunately hit him in a protected armor covered part of his torso. Still it sent the one eyed villain flying. He rolled on the ground and quickly jumped back onto his feet, landing in a perfect fighting stance.

"Well done, Raven!" He congratulated her in his signature monotone. "I see Robin has furthered your training in unarmed combat. You're more than just a pretty gray face. So tell me, how is your trial marriage to Beast Boy coming along? No trouble in the bedroom, I hope?" He switched to taunting her, hoping to trigger her anger.

Raven wasn't a 14 year old anymore and Slade's jeers fell on deaf ears. Still it unnerved her that Slade knew she and Beast Boy were in the Courtship Rite.

"I'm full of surprises Slade." She growled at him.

"Good!" He replied in his own monotone. "So am I."

_**-( scene break )-**_

The battle scene in the park had intensified. The twelve heroes had made a supreme effort to turn the skirmish around to their favor and it was beginning to pay off. While Slade was anticipating the Titans trying to crash his party he wasn't expect either the Young Justice League or Terra's brigade of shape shifters to join the fight against him.

The war in front of the observatory didn't come without a price. YJ-Kid Flash accidentally ran into a Slade-bot's laser beam. He was only exposed to it for a mere millisecond, which was fortunate as only 10 milliseconds would have sufficed to prove fatal to the young speedster. The others noticed that Artemis was soon at his side and after examining him in a surprising display of strength she picked him up bridal style and carried his unconscious form away to safety.

Tula was also injured in the battle. She teamed up with Beast Boy and the two were soon surrounded by Slade-bots. The fight was going their way when one of the droids pulled a dagger and it found its target on her upper left arm, cutting a puncture wound that was two inches deep. Tula howled in pain as Beast Boy vanquished the offending robot with a swish of his dinosaur tail. He reverted to human form and administered some battle field first aid to the shapely Atlantean. He quickly got the bleeding to stop.

"Fall back, Tula!" He barked at her. "I can handle these jerks."

The female aquatic stood up and brandished her weapon with her other arm.

"I still have one good arm, Beast Boy. I will continue fighting!" She replied with a tenacity that marveled the green changeling.

It was then that the remaining Slade-bots turned tail and retreated back into the observatory. The shape shifters gave chase while the heroes were perplexed.

"They have been discovered!" Starfire shouted. "Slade's robots have always been the expendable! He is recalling them to fight Raven and the little Robin"

Beast Boy's eyes widened with worry.

"Dude! Raven can't fight off that many Slade-bots, not without blowing up the entire building."

"M'Gann, make telepathic contact with Raven! Warn her about the Slade-bots!" Kaldur shouted.

The young Martian placed her hand on her forehead and reached out to the gray sorceress. She was able to locate her immediately but had trouble making contact.

"_Raven! Can you hear me?"_ She called out repeatedly. After several tries Raven responded.

"_**I'm kind of busy now, M'gann. Slade knows we're here. Robin's still hacking and Slade's throwing everything he has at me."**_

"_He's going to have more to throw at you soon. His remaining droids are retreating back into the ob__s__ervatory."_

"_**Great, just what I needed."**_Raven replied.

"Hurry up, Robin! We're going to have company! The bad kind of company!" Raven howled.

"I'm trying! This computer is sealed up tighter than Fort Knox."

_**-( scene break )-**_

Robin caught three of his bird-a-rangs as they faithfully returned to him; snapping them back into his belt. The grounds around the observatory were unrecognizable. Gone were the grassy knolls that on a normal day would be covered with picnic blankets, badminton and volleyball nets, people tossing a baseball back and forth, etc. Instead his eyes were greeted with the vision of a smoldering ruin as over 1000 Slade-bots and Martian shape shifters littered the once pristine field which was now pock marked with craters and wide areas of burnt turf. His nostrils were assaulted by the stench of burnt flesh from the dead shape shifters as well as the tell tale aroma of spilled hydraulic fluid from the devastated Slade-bots. The only sound he heard was the staccato of the metallic droids feet making clickety clack sounds while they ran over concrete walkways as they stormed the mothballed observatory building, followed by the stealthier shape shifters who made no sound as they ran.

"Raven and Robin need our help! Titans Go!" The senior Boy Wonder bellowed as he rallied his combined troops.

Superboy, M'Gann and Starfire charged ahead, flying as fast as they could while TT-Kid Flash ran beneath them and Beast Boy flew close behind in the form of a Peregrine falcon. Jinx watched them disappear into the dilapidated building as she ran behind, along with Robin, Kaldur, Tula and Cyborg trying to catch up with the speedier superheroes.

Superboy was the first to reach Raven and the sight that greeted him wasn't pretty. While Raven was able to fend off the swarms of droids while keeping a shield around the static and still hacking YJ-Robin she looked worse for the wear. Her face was bloodied and there was a long gash on her left thigh which also oozed blood. Connor could see that she was panting and was close to succumbing to exhaustion.

"Raven, fall back! We got you covered!" Superboy shouted above the battlefield din as Starfire began to fire starbolts and M'Gann used her telekinesis to crush some of the droids.

Raven nodded gratefully and ran off to join Robin inside his protective obsidian cocoon. As soon as she was inside she fell to her knees, then onto all fours. Robin stopped hacking and said something unintelligible to her. She waved him away as she continued to pant, pointing at the console. Starfire was able to read the sorceress's lips: 'Never mind me, get back to that computer'.

By this point everyone had arrived. Beast Boy, upon seeing that his beloved was safe with young Robin, got down to business, morphing into a heavily armored ankylosaurus, smiting the droids with his powerful and boney tail. The robots fired upon him and his exoskeletal armor absorbed most of the power of the blasts.

Conner charged into the fracas head first, decimating droids with a single punch and using his newly acquired heat vision to incinerate the ones that were out of reach of his fists. They fired upon him with their lasers and while he flinched more than once his pattern of attack continued unabated.

Tula joined forces with Jinx and they used their magical powers together. Tula summoned water out of a nearby restroom and used it as a weapon as she converted the stream of liquid into arrows of ice, impaling droid after droid with them, sending them into fits of convulsion as they feel to the ground. Jinx used her hexes to make the Slade-bots malfunction and also collapse into quivering piles of gears, relays and hydraulic valves.

The remaining shape shifters remained loyal to the combined platoon of heroes, much to Slade's chagrin. But what had his undivided attention at the moment were the two superheroes who were trying to corner him: Kaldur and TT-Robin.

"Interesting, my former apprentice and his aquatic friend wish to challenge me. Do you think you're up to it, Robin? Or will you be sloppy and careless like you always are?"

"Your taunts will not affect us Deathstroke, surrender to us now, you cannot win!" Kaldur challenged him.

Slade adopted a kung fu style fighting stance, his palms extended and his knees bent as he adopted a perfect balance.

"Please, just call me Slade … Deathstroke … sounds so negative." Slade replied in his monotone before launching his attack with a loud yell.

The two young men were prepared and able. Robin was no longer a young boy that Slade could slap around and he gave the one eyed madman no excuse to criticize him as his technique was impeccable. Kaldur lashed at Slade with his electric bladed swords.

Slade was still Slade of course. There were few villains who could go mano a mano with Batman and hold their own. Deathstroke was a member of that very elite group and he was able to parry Kaldur's and Robin' attacks. He had the advantage of being less fatigued than his opponents who had just been fighting outside the observatory.

Slade drew his collapsible bo staff and with a click he extended it to its full size. With fluid circular motions, which contrasted sharply with Robin's own Taekwondo style, which relied more on kicks than punches he parried Kaldur's blade strikes while twirling out of the way of one of Robin's spinning heel kicks. Both young men continued attacking and Slade not only was able to fend them off, he was able to connect a good solid strike on each one of them. The two young men paused as they considered their next move.

Robin decided to switch completely to the kung fu techniques he learned from the True Master while Kaldur analyzed Slade's moves, searching for a weakness.

"You've come a long way Robin, your technique is much better than before and you're much stronger as well, but you're still a boy doing a man's job, or has the princess made a man out of you yet?" Slade taunted him.

Robin snarled at his nemesis as he wiped the blood away from his nose. Slade had connected at powerful kick there, and only now was Robin realizing that his nose was broken. The boy wonder seethed, realizing that Slade always managed to stay a step ahead of him. Here he was, teaming up with Kaldur and they couldn't take the bastard down. How did Slade do it?

Robin heard Kaldur clear his throat.

"The monkey and the octopus Robin." Kaldur shouted. Robin nodded in reply.

Robin instantly changed his fighting style to one of unpredictable and random movements. Slade immediately recognized the kung fu style the Boy Wonder adopted and countered it with his own similar style. Slade was at first taken aback as Robin wielded the style with great mastery.

"So it's not a lie, you trained with the True Master. I must complement you Robin; you have improved more than I thought. But it will take more than that to defeat your old master."

It was then that Kaldur summoned the water himself. The water behaved as if it were alive, spouting tentacles that reached out to trap Slade who was barely able to avoid them as he cart wheeled out of the way. At first Kaldur felt disappointed that he didn't catch Deathstroke but was consoled when he realized that they now had him on the defensive.

"Give it up Slade, this time you won't escape!" Robin growled as he pointed his finger at his onetime master.

"Escape? Now why would I do that, apprentice? The tide in this battle is on my side. It's you who cannot win." Slade replied smugly.

Robin clenched his teeth and noticed that while many Slade-bots had been destroyed that they now outnumbered the surviving shape shifters, which were now dropping like flies as they were being overwhelmed by the droids superior numbers. He noticed that Connor was down as a droid holding a sliver of kryptonite had cornered him. Starfire was a bloody and burnt mess as she continued to strike back with her star bolts, but he could tell that she was approaching complete exhaustion. The others were also being overwhelmed by the sheer number of Slade-bots, who were now firing on Raven's bubble shield. He could see her grimace as she kept the shield up, summoning ever fiber in her body and soul to keep the protective shield in place to protect YJ-Robin and herself from the barrage of laser fire.

"So Kaldur'ahm and Robin, what will it be? Do you wish to see your friends destroyed or will you surrender to me?"

"Surrendering to you is out of the question Deathstroke. We know you will show us no mercy if we surrender. We will fight you to our final breath." Kaldur calmly replied.

Slade shook his head.

"Atlanteans, so idealistic, so noble, so … foolish. You leave me no choice but to destroy all of you. A real pity, as you would have all made fine apprentices." Slade smirked behind his mask.

Slade's gloating came to a sudden halt as all of the droids present hunched down bending their knees, wrapped their arms under their legs … and powered down. Raven dropped her shield and Beast Boy ran to her. They embraced and shared a kiss after which he wrapped her arm around his neck as helped her get back on her feet, fussing over her as he tried to wipe the blood from her face with his sleeve.

YJ-Robin pumped his fist into the air.

"Slade, consider yourself hacked" he gloated. "You are so totally pwned!"

TT-Robin grinned at his one eyed nemesis.

"You were saying, Slade?"

Slade snarled behind his mask. This wasn't supposed to happen. How did the boy hack into his system? It was supposed to be foolproof. He had now lost control over all his warriors across the country. It was over, and he came so close.

"Perhaps another time Robin."

In a lightning rapid motion Slade reached into his belt and retrieved a small sphere which he slammed into the ground. It exploded and released a noxious gas which sent TT-Robin and Kaldur into coughing fits. Between the billowing smoke Miss Martian, who was also beginning to cough, saw Slade run out of the room.

"Slade's hack getting cough away." She choked.

"Not if we can help it!" Raven shouted before turning to her almost fiancé. "Gar, can you summon the Beast?"

"You bet, let's do it Rae! Let's kick his butt!"

Raven swept her cape around herself and Beast Boy and they phased into the floor.

_**-( scene break )-**_

I hope this wasn't too predictable.

Also, there is news!

Next Saturday (Match 10) the first Titans chibi short will be broadcast.


	25. Slade's Flight

The capsule exploded with a loud bang and the thick smoke began to fill the room. Slade saw the young female Martian point at him before he was shrouded by the dark and murky smokescreen. He didn't need to be able to see where he was running as he knew the complex as well as the back of his hand and could have easily found his way out had he been blindfolded. He could hear the Titans' and YJs' shouts as he left the room, slapping a button on the wall that slammed the heavy titanium doors shut. He knew it wouldn't stop them, not with the Kryptonian and the Tamaranian at their disposal, but it would slow them down. As he ran away and out of the dark cloud that obscured the hallway he heard the two super strong heroes began to pound on the door, which moaned as if sharing its discomfort.

Slade ran through a second set of doors, which also closed behind him as he ran through the opening. The hallway turned into a ramp, which began to descend deep into the earth. There was another set of doors at each switchback, each one shutting as he passed through it and Slade picked up the pace as he had no desire to be captured.

He passed through switchback after switchback, turning gracefully and rapidly around each corner. He heard the sound of the first set of doors finally yielding to the Titans. Slade noticed that the air around him was becoming hotter and thicker, and it wasn't because he was feeling winded.

Slade dashed through the final set of doors and entered a large cavern. A strong smell of sulfur assaulted his nostrils but he ignored it as he continued to run. Jump City had an intricate network of underground caverns and this underground room bore a great resemblance to the lair he had when Terra turned on him during that fateful night.

There was a huge crater in the middle of the room, which contained a pool of magma. The lava slowly bubbled and popped, as noxious gas bubbles formed in the thick molten rock. The crater was surrounded by huge metal boxes which contained state of the art geothermal equipment, which provided all the power to his lair. It was a masterpiece of stealth technology as it left no signature of its presence and it was one of the reasons his lair had never been detected.

Slade ran around the crater, attempting to peer between the geothermal power equipment as he continued to run with the speed and grace of a gazelle. It wasn't until he made his way around the crater and cleared the last of the thermal generators that he could finally see the object of his desire.

Slade was calculating, if anything. Unlike other villains he never assumed his plans would work flawlessly and he always hedged his bets. And his hedge, a teleportation chamber, stood waiting for him, patiently, loyally and faithfully.

And Batgirl was standing between him and his quantum lifeboat.

"Going somewhere, Slade?" Babs smirked at him.

"Out of my way girl, I don't have time to deal with you now!"

"Isn't that a shame Slade?" She replied as she adopted a fighting stance.

"Have it your way child, and don't say you weren't warned." He growled back at her as he clicked his bo staff into its fully extended length and twirled it menacingly.

Barbara made the first move, somersaulting as she launched a volley of batarangs at Slade, who knocked them away with his staff. He immediately counterattacked, lunging with the speed of tiger at the diminutive Batgirl, who was barely able to leap out of the way while continuing to block his escape route.

"There's no way I'm letting you reach that teleportation pod." She smirked at him as she landed on her feet after performing a perfect triple back flip.

Slade understood what the girl was doing. There was no way she could match him one on one, and instead was luring him away from the escape. She was trying to buy time to give her teammates a chance to catch up with them. He knew that couldn't allow that to happen.

Slade darted to one side in an attempt to run around the meddlesome girl. Barbara threw a bolo rope at his legs in an attempt to hogtie him.

Slade surprised her by leaping into the air, doing a half flip and landing in front of her on his hands. With a superhuman effort fueled by his chemically enhanced strength, a gift from the government he received during his military days as a volunteer guinea pig, using only his arms he sprung back into the air and flipped over an astonished Batgirl. Before she could react he landed on his feet and hit her on one of her temples with his bo-staff. She immediately collapsed, knocked out cold.

"Consider yourself lucky child. Were I not in such a hurry your fate would have been final."

Slade collapsed his bo-staff and turned to the teleportation pod.

"Until next time Titans." He muttered to himself as he began to walk to his freedom.

He stopped as Raven phased out of the ground, blocking his path. Her eyes glowed white and she parted her cape, revealing a dark void from which Beast Boy emerged. The changeling immediately saw Babs supine form on the floor and ran to her, kneeling next to her as he checked her vital signs.

"She's alive Rae, but she's hurt real bad, she needs to get to the infirmary!"

Raven glared at Slade.

"Lucky for you she's still alive Slade, as I'll have to tend to her wounds. But don't worry, Gar will give you what you deserve."

"Gar? Is that your pet name for him, Raven? What does he call you? Rae-Rae perhaps?" He gave the changeling a single eyed glare. "Go ahead Beast Boy, do your worst. Not that it will matter; we both know that Raven is the one with the real power. You're nothing more than her dog on a leash."

What happened next caught Slade completely by surprise. Beast Boy leapt to his feet and charged at the villain, who at first grinned behind the privacy of his mask. He decided at that moment that he would kill the changeling and make his escape before Raven could react. He extended his staff as Beast Boy began to morph. He knew that while the green Titan was strong he also knew his weakness: his lack of discipline. The green fool always shot from the hip and fought without any real strategy. His animal instincts could be deadly, but they also made him mindless and predictable. It would be an easy kill as long as Raven stayed at the bat brat's side healing her.

Slade adopted a fighting stance, and would let the changeling come to him. The changeling behaved as expected, lunging at him while he morphed into some useless animal form. Did Beast Boy not know that man is the ultimate predator?

What Slade did not expect was the transformation that happened before his eyes. As Beast Boy began to morph Slade recognized that the target would be some sort of biped, perhaps a giant ape or a lumbering dinosaur. Time appeared to slow down as Slade watched in mild horror while Beast Boy began to transform into a creature one would expect to only encounter during a fever induced nightmare. He watched as the boy's extremities transformed into razor sharp claws. His torso swelled, its muscles as firm as if they were made of steel. And the head, its face was something primeval, beyond anything found on any creature that roamed the Earth or swam in its seas.

The leviathan slashed at the one eyed villain, who was barely able to leap out of the way. The inhuman blow landed instead on a nearby console, smashing it to bits. As Slade stared at the green monster before him he caught a glimpse of Raven in his peripheral vision. She was still healing the Batgirl, but she was watching the fight. Slade saw something he had never seen before: Raven was grinning, but it wasn't a nice grin. It was the grin of a female with the blood lust, and lust it was as her 4 demonic eyes were now glowing red. Then it clicked for him, she was watching her mate toy with its prey, for that is what Slade was at the moment, he was the Beast's prey.

Slade realized that this creature was a composite of every creature on Earth, a green chimera, a creature that was only supposed to exist in nightmares, and yet was right in front of him, playing with him, as if he were a mere mouse.

Slade decided to fight fire with fire and swung at the Beast's head with his bo-staff. He connected with the monster's head and a loud cracking sound was heard. The Beast did not even flinch and Slade stared in horror as his staff fell apart, completely broken by the impact.

The Beast snatched Slade, grabbing him with a lightning fast sweep, wrapping his claws around his torso and dragged him to the edge of the crater, which had a safety railing around its perimeter. It pressed Slade against the metal barrier, immobilizing him. Slade squirmed in vain as he tried to free himself and the Beast lowered its head so that it was face to face with Slade and emitted a bone rattling roar that echoed throughout the cavern. It then pulled away while still holding Slade trapped against the railing, and Slade thought the monster looked … smug.

"Bravo Beast Boy, well done. I clearly underestimated you. You have defeated me." He turned to face Raven. "My apologies Raven, he is indeed worthy of you." He continued in his signature monotone. "Since you have the upper hand, I would like to propose a deal …"

"No deals Slade. You don't have anything we could possibly want!" Raven hissed back at him.

"I beg to differ, Raven. I indeed have something you want, something very valuable."

"Like I already said Slade, we aren't interested, you can't bribe us."

Slade raised his hand, exposing the ring on his finger.

"Do you know what this is, Raven?"

Raven stood up, ceasing Barbara's healing process as she stared at the ring.

"Yes Raven, this is the Master ring that brought Terra back to life. If I give this to you, you will be able to break the stony curse that claims Terra's flesh for once and for all."

Raven shook her head while the Beast snarled at Slade, who ignored him.

"My freedom for Terra's life, Raven. That seems like an equitable trade, don't you agree?"

Raven clenched her teeth, trying to keep in anger in check.

"We'll confiscate it from you Slade. No deal." She hissed angrily.

Slade shook his head.

"I was afraid you would say that. You do know what would happen if the ring is destroyed, don't you?" He asked.

"Yes, Terra would remain trapped in stone until the end of time." She replied.

Slade nodded his head.

"Good, I just wanted to be sure that there was no misunderstanding."

Slade pulled the ring off of his finger and tossed it into the pit. The Beast released him immediately and leaped over the railing, while Raven jumped to her feet and ran over to where he jumped, from where she saw that Beast Boy had morphed into a falcon and was diving after the ring, which now tumbled towards the lava below. The green falcon caught up with the falling ring and caught it in his talon. Raven waited for him to pull out of his dive, but as she watched in horror he too began to tumble. He had blacked out from the searing heat of the boiling magma, which was now just yards away from his falling body. Raven raised her hand.

"AZARATH, METRION, ZINTHOS!"

A black bubble appeared around the unconscious bird and Raven summoned it back to her. As it returned she deposited the injured falcon on the ground and her healing blue light made it appearance. It was then she heard a loud hum that grew louder and louder until it fell silent.

Slade had escaped.

The falcon opened its eyes and blinked. It then extended its claw and deposited the ring in Raven's hand after which Beast Boy morphed back into his human form.

"I'm sorry Rae … that was … really stupid." He said as he stood up.

Raven slapped him across the face. She then stared at him before breaking out into sobs and tears, burying her face in his chest. Barbara, now back on her feet, watched as he wrapped his arms around Raven, and they remained in their embrace until the others caught up with them.

_**-( scene break )-**_

A single scene chapter.

Slade got away, like he always does. But we're not done yet, so stay tuned.


	26. The Boy Expert

"Wally?"

YJ-Kid Flash tried to sit up, but every muscle in his body groaned in pain. He fell back into his bed with a dull thud. His senses were a blur and they slowly came back online, one by one.

His hearing cleared up first, and he heard the telltale beep of an electrocardiograph.

"Wally?"

The next sense to return was smell, and his nostrils were greeted by the harsh sting of antiseptic, and he scrunched his nose. He then opened his eyes, hoping to visually confirm the voice's owner. His vision slowly came into focus. She was standing next to his bed, without her mask. He was drawn into her lovely face, a delicate mix of Asian and Caucasian features and her blond hair flowed loosely, no longer tied into a pony tail. She looked both worried and relieved at the same time.

"Are you sure he's OK, Raven?"

"He's fine Artemis; I was able to heal all of his burns." Raven replied before turning to the speedster. "Your costume saved your life Kid Flash. Your burns were pretty severe around your torso; don't be surprised if it's sensitive for a while."

Wally was finally able to sit up. He rubbed his head and groaned.

"What happened?" He asked. "I don't remember anything."

"You ran into a laser, doofus." Artemis replied. "I had to bring you back to the Tower. Were you trying to get yourself killed?"

"No." He replied indignantly.

Raven placed a hand on Artemis' shoulder.

"I'll leave the two of you alone. It's late and Gar is waiting for me in our room ... goodnight."

Raven silently left the infirmary.

"Did she say she's bunking with Beast Boy?" He asked with a mischievous grin.

Artemis glared at him.

"It's not what you think Wally."

"Then what is it?"

Artemis sighed.

"It's hard to explain. To be honest, I'm not sure I fully understand their arrangement. It's some weird alien ritual."

Wally chuckled.

"They do make an interesting couple … hey … did we win?"

The blond archer pulled up a chair and sat down next to his bed.

"Sort of. We were able to stop the shape shifters, but Deathstroke escaped."

"He always does. What about the Justice League?"

"The captured members were recovered." She paused. "The destruction, it's unbelievable Wally. But at least the siege is over now, and the rebuilding can begin."

"Looks like I missed a lot."

"You've been out cold for over two days."

A somber expression blanketed his face.

"Two days? Wow. Hey … how is everyone else?"

"Other than some bruises they're all OK."

"That's a relief … so what happens next?"

"We received orders to stay with the Titans until further notice." She paused, as her expression switched to anger.

"Wally … don't ever do that again."

He grinned.

"You mean run into a laser?"

She frowned at him.

"You were being cocky and reckless. Do you have any idea of how scared I felt when you went down? "

Tears began to well in her eyes. She turned away in a futile attempt to conceal her emotional outburst.

"I thought you were dead." She choked back a sob.

"I'm … I'm sorry Arte … you know I didn't do it on purpose."

Artemis stood up.

"Raven's right, it's late and I'm also tired. We should both get some rest Wally, you still look worn out."

"Sure … uh Artemis."

"Yes?"

"Thanks for saving me … and for caring … I know I don't show it, but … you are my best friend … and … I … I care about you too, a lot. You're … really special to me."

The blond archer was almost at the door when she heard his words. Without saying a word she walked backed to his bed, leaned over … and locked lips with him.

"Good night Wally, I'll come see you in the morning."

Artemis charged out of the room, blushing, without saying another word, Wally traced his lips with his index finger; still unable to believe what had just happened. A grin appeared on his face and he pumped his right arm repeatedly.

"Yes, yes, YES!"

_**-( scene break )-**_

Raven stepped out of the infirmary, her unnaturally light footsteps barely made a sound as she walked down the hallway. It was almost midnight and the Tower had switched to nighttime mode, the lights in the hallways were dimmed to half their normal brightness. She made a detour to the common room, which was unoccupied as everyone else had already called it a night and retired to their quarters.

She began to brew a small teapot of rose hip tea and assembled a small tray to take it back to her room. After rummaging through the pantry she found a bag of tortilla chips for Beast Boy, and retrieved a can of root beer for him as well. She then wandered over to the large windows and gazed at the city's nighttime skyline while she waited for the electric kettle to boil.

The citizenry had returned to the city and she could still see a substantial amount of traffic on the large suspension bridge that spanned the bay. It was lit up like a Christmas tree, its thousands of lights twinkling like stars in the darkness while vehicles of all sizes scurried across it in both directions.

Normalcy had returned quickly to the city and the events of just two days prior were all but forgotten. Jump City had been lucky and was spared the ravages of Slade's shape shifting warriors. Of course the populace had no idea of just how close they were to disaster.

Raven knew of course, just as she knew how close she personally came to her own catastrophe. She closed her eyes and the image of Beast Boy, in avian form, unconscious and falling into the lava pit appeared in her mind. Had she been but a few seconds late he would have fallen to a fiery death.

She understood why he did it. It wasn't because it was Terra's life that hung from a thread. He would have done it for anyone. He was that selfless, and she knew that was one of the reasons she loved him. Even though they were not even one month into the Courtship she had already made up her mind, she would propose to him when the year was over.

The kettle whistled and Raven walked back to the kitchen where she poured the boiling water into the teapot. She collected the tray and walked back to their room.

Would he accept her offer? She wondered as she made her way down the dark hallways. On the surface there was little doubt, but there was a caveat, a situation that frightened her.

Tomorrow morning, using the two rings of Azar, she was going to revive Terra. A surgeon was scheduled to be present to remove the two remaining implants, which were delicately embedded into Terra's spine. They had to be removed immediately to keep Slade from possibly regaining control of the blond earth bender.

Raven was feeling ambivalent about reviving Terra at this point in time. She even considered asking Robin to defer Terra's revival until after she and Beast Boy were wed. She knew that the request was absurd. It would be an insult to Beast Boy, implying that she expected him to dump her and run off with the wretched blond.

Raven's insecurities began to run rampant in her mind. She had hated Terra from the day they met, even before the blond betrayed the Titans, and Raven knew why.

Terra was "normal". She didn't have gray skin or violet hair. She didn't have an inner demon to fight and struggle with constantly to keep under control. She was bubbly, cute and even likeable when she wasn't being treacherous. She was also affectionate. Raven recalled how Terra had Beast Boy wrapped around her finger during those early days. Raven struggled to give Beast Boy affection, it was so hard. It's not that she didn't want to shower him with loving gestures, but it was a monumental struggle to juggle her emotions to do so. One mistake and everything would come crashing down.

_How can I possibly compete with her?_

Raven suddenly found herself standing at her door. Gathering herself together she opened the door and entered. Beast Boy was resting on the bed, just wearing his boxers while he read a graphic novel. He put his book down and gave her one of his smiles, one of those smiles that always made her feel warm and safe inside her tumultuous mind.

"I brought you some chips and root beer." She announced in her monotone.

He jumped out of the bed and took the tray from her, setting it down on the night stand. He then spun around and with a swift but gentle motion he swept her off her feet, picking her up bridal style and kissed her.

Raven decided that maybe she worried too much sometimes.

_**-( scene break )-**_

The breakfast dishes were being rinsed and loaded into the dishwasher, courtesy of Starfire and Superboy, while the others were busy wiping down the table and countertops, throwing the refuse down the garbage chute, vacuuming the floor and whatever else needed to be done. Cyborg and M'Gann had taken off for the safe room, from where they would move Terra's petrified body to the infirmary.

Raven stared at the elevator doors while she also helped to clean up. As she stored a pile of dishes, using her obsidian energy, in a cupboard she heard the elevator chime.

It was time.

TT-Robin emerged from the elevator with a middle aged man who wore eye glasses.

"Everyone, this is Dr. Staveley."

The crowd paused from their tasks to greet the physician.

Robin nodded at Raven, who handed her spray bottle and cleaning cloth to her mate, after which she silently followed them out of the common room.

They entered the infirmary, where Terra's petrified body was lying in state, still in the supine position she was in when she handed over her ring to Raven. The dark sorceress studied the geomancer's form while the surgeon prepared himself. She then slipped the master ring onto her own finger, next to Promise ring she continued to wear, and the ring magically changed size to fit her as her hands were much smaller and daintier than Slade's massive appendages.

The doctor emerged dressed in scrubs, along with Cyborg who would serve as his assistant.

"We're ready Raven." The tin man informed her.

The gray demoness slipped the slave ring onto Terra's stony hand and she slowly began to transform, as if thawing from a deep freeze. Once the transformation was complete she jerked violently as she drew a deep breath and coughed. She saw that Raven was leaning over her.

"We were successful Terra. We stopped Slade and recovered the master ring."

It was obvious to all present that Terra was in pain from her wounds and the remaining neurological implants.

"Where is he?" She asked.

"He escaped." Raven replied. "But we'll talk later. We have a surgeon who is ready to remove the implants from your spine. Time is of the essence as we don't want to give Slade a chance to control you again. Cyborg setup a Faraday cage around the operating table." Raven continued as she helped Terra get on her feet. "So once you're there you should be safe from Slade, the radio signals that control your implants can't get past the cage, at least that's what Cyborg and Starfire say."

Terra nodded and allowed Raven to help her walk into the strange looking metal cage.

"Is BB OK?" Terra asked.

"He's fine Terra. After you've recovered from the surgery I'll remove the curse so you won't have to wear the ring anymore. Good luck."

Raven then turned and walked out of the infirmary. As she made her way down the hall she sensed a presence behind her and turned around.

It was M'Gann.

"Raven, would you mind if we spoke?"

Raven read the alien's face. It was exactly the same expression Starfire wore when she would request that Raven "engage with her in the girl talk". She could also sense that the Martian was nervous, and a bit embarrassed.

_Why does everyone come to me with their personal problems? _She moaned in her mind.

"What do you wish to speak about, M'Gann?"

The Martian fidgeted with her fingers.

"Could we … uh … talk in private?"

Raven resisted the urge to roll her eyes. Instead she swept her cape, which magically grew, around them and she teleported them to the Tower's rooftop. M'Gann shivered as the black hemisphere faded away, leaving them on top of Titans Tower as a strong ocean breeze blew, billowing their capes.

Raven gave the Martian a slightly miffed look that said "what?"

"I'm sorry to bother you Raven; but you seem to be the most mature person here and no one knows more about boys than you do."

Raven did a double take upon hearing those last words.

"I hate to disappoint you M'Gann, but I'm not an expert on boys."

M'Gann gave her a puzzled look.

"But Starfire told me that you and Beast Boy are mates."

Raven sighed.

"OK, maybe I'm an expert when it comes to Beast Boy. But I'm not an expert on boys in general … but I'll do what I can to help you." She paused. "Let me guess, you're having problems with Superboy?"

M'Gann nodded sadly.

"I don't understand him Raven. Sometimes he can be so sweet, and at other times he's aloof and distant. Is it something I do? Is it because I'm green?"

Raven's eyes widened upon hearing those words.

"No M'Gann, its nothing you've done. I wish I was one tenth as nice as you are, and as for you being green … my lover and future spouse is green. It's not you M'Gann … it's him."

A look of sadness flooded the Martian's face.

"So there is no hope?"

As Raven gazed upon the green girl who was beginning to cry she couldn't help but notice the numerous parallels between the couple that was M'Gann and Connor and her own relationship with Beast Boy. She, like the Kryptonian, had struggled with who she was and the torrent of emotions they each fought to control and harmonize. Then there was M'Gann and Beast Boy, it was almost comical that they were both green as they shared so much in common. They were both shape shifters of course, but Raven also knew that they were gentle souls, loving and caring, and they were more than most people deserved.

Over the years Raven had heard the wisecracks about how she and Beast Boy were "an old married couple" based on the relationship they had. M'Gann and Connor weren't quite there yet, she reasoned, but the parallels were numerous.

"M'Gann, the only advice I can give you is to be patient and not give up on him. As you know I am an empath and I can sense that Superboy has a great deal of affection for you, so there is definitely hope, lots of hope in fact."

Raven paused as she crossed her arms.

"In many ways Superboy is a lot like me. We both struggle with our emotions. Over the years Gar has helped me to become comfortable with who I am, which is why I asked him to join me in the Courtship Rite and be my mate."

She paused.

"Of course you are both younger than we are …"

"Actually Raven, I'm about 50 Earth years old."

"… ok then, figuratively speaking you're younger. What I'm saying is give him time to mature."

"Like you did with Beast Boy? Starfire told me that he used to be a prankster when he was younger. Did he really glue your hands to a GameStation controller?"

"Used to be? He still is a goofball … but he's my goofball. And yes, he did pull that stupid prank on me."

M'Gann began to laugh.

"And you gave him a wedgie."

Raven grinned.

"I gave him the mother of all wedgies." She snickered. "He was so starved for attention back then that I think he actually enjoyed it."

M'Gann blushed.

"Thank you Raven … for sharing with me. So, should I give Connor a wedgie when he's being … moody?"

"Thaaaat might not be a good idea."Raven chortled in reply as she reached for her communicator and flipped it open.

"Gar, are you there?"

"_I'm here babe, wassup?"_

"Ask Superboy to join us for lunch. Tell him that M'Gann will be joining us."

"_What if he doesn't want to come?"_

"Tell him about that wedgie I gave you once."

_**-( scene break )-**_

The story continues to unwind, but as some of you have already asked: "Will the YJs get to go home?"

Stay tuned.


	27. The Memory Core

A whole week had passed since the battle with Slade. The Justice League had sent no further orders to Kaldur and his team, other than to continue staying with the Titans. The days following Slade's defeat had been quiet ones and the local supervillains appeared to be content with lying low and other than a brief encounter with the remnant of the Hive-5, which turned out to be a non event as the young criminals were not actually breaking any laws as they shopped (legitimately) at a grocery store, which included paying for their purchase with real, non-counterfeit cash there had been nothing of interest to do.

The two teams contented themselves to simple social activities (Raven still refused to engage in any sports). The YJs slowly came to terms with Raven and the changeling being an "almost married couple". For some reason, YJ-Robin seemed to be the most obsessed with them, to the point that he didn't notice that Artemis and Wally were hanging out together a lot more than usual and were being very civil to each other.

Terra had fully recovered from her surgery, and true to her promise Raven used a spell to remove the petrification curse from the geomancer. She performed it in private, with Beast Boy serving as her assistant. Terra was surprised to learn to Raven had begun to teach him the basics of magic and the green lad proved to be a quick study. The spell Raven cast was simple. Terra placed her ring into the palm of her hand and Raven placed the master ring next to it as well. She then chanted something that sounded ugly. It wasn't some pretty, flowing spell in Latin like one would hear chanted by Harry Potter or Negi Springfield. A deep guttural sound in a tongue that was clearly not of this Earth emanated from Raven's throat as her eyes glowed obsidian black. Terra felt her whole body vibrate and watched in amazement as the two rings turned to dust and blew away. Raven later explained to her that the magic in the rings had now been absorbed into her body and would remain there until the blond died, at which point she would turn back into stone.

That had occurred a few days before, and Terra kept to herself since then, often seeking solitude on the Tower's roof or along the island's shoreline. Like the others, she was also having trouble coping with Raven and Beast Boy's new status, but in her own case it cut much deeper.

Terra was sitting on the shoreline, skipping stones absentmindedly while she pondered the unpleasant truth. Learning that the couple had taken their relationship to "the next level" was heartbreaking for her. She recalled the fateful evening she asked Beast Boy out on a date to get him out of the Tower so he wouldn't be there when Slade attacked. That evening had been the most magical one in her life; it was also the night when she snatched defeat from the jaws of victory. Had she not betrayed the Titans that night, things would have turned out differently. He would be hers now, sleeping in her bed and not in Ravens's room. Terra choked back a sob as she skipped another stone.

_Who am I kidding? I never stood a chance against Raven. BB doesn't need a psycho like me. Raven might not be Miss Congeniality, but she has it where it counts. She's loyal and dependable, not to mention selfless and noble. And being a half demon doesn't hurt, at least not in the bedroom. They think I don't notice when they "disappear" for half an hour in the afternoon. I don't need to ask, I can see it on BB's face when they come back to the common room … dammit! That could have been me, it should have been me … but I blew it._

_How can I possibly compete with her?_

Terra skipped another stone as she heard someone approach. It was Kaldur'ahm, who appeared to be out for walk.

"Miss Markov, forgive me for intruding on your privacy. If you wish, l shall leave."

Terra shook her head.

"It's OK Kaldur, you don't have to go." She replied as she skipped another stone.

Kaldur picked a rock up and threw it. It sank on the first bounce.

"Never skipped stones before, have you?"She laughed half heartedly.

"It is not a common practice in Atlantis."

"I guess I you can't do it underwater, I'll show you how it's done."

After instructing him on the basics of picking a good stone and on how to throw it he tried again. On his first try it skipped 4 times.

"Not bad." She congratulated him.

"Thank you Miss Markov."

She gave him a weak smile.

"I'm glad I'm good for something. So, are you still getting married?"

He nodded.

"Yes, Tula and I will be wed next week in Atlantis, I hope that you will be able to come to Atlantis and be present during the ceremony. I'm afraid that you will require breathing apparatus as traditional Atlantean weddings are held underwater."

Terra suppressed a laugh.

"Not a big deal. Believe or not, there are surface people who get married underwater while wearing scuba gear."

Kaldur looked surprised.

"Is this a common tradition?"

This time Terra could not contain her laugher.

"Not really, but some people like to have unusual weddings. I've heard of people getting married while skydiving, in the nude, riding roller coasters at amusement parks, cycling, you name it."

Kaldur gave her a disturbed look.

"I sometimes find surface people to be … perplexing."

"You aren't the only one." She replied somberly. "Sometimes I feel that I don't really fit in here either."

Kaldur approached the geomancer, looking somewhat apprehensive.

"Miss Markov, may I ask you a personal question?"

Terra locked eyes with the dark Atlantean.

"Sure, why not?"

"Forgive me if my question causes you discomfort, and please do not feel compelled to answer."

"It's OK Kaldur, go ahead and ask." She replied as she sat down on a boulder.

He sat down on another rock.

"How do you feel about Raven and Beast Boy's relationship? Starfire has told us that you and Beast Boy were once in love with each other."

Terra sighed.

"It's true, we were. And then I threw it all away like a fool. As for how I feel about them: I hate it. I wish he slept in my bed and not in hers … but it's too late for that now, I've lost him for good. I also know that I should leave, but there really is nowhere to go. If I remain part of the superhero community, I'll always be in touch with them … maybe I could become a nun?" She joked halfheartedly.

"I understand your pain Miss Markov, as I myself once experienced similar heartache in my own universe."

"I see, so we're birds of a feather, huh?"

"In a way, yes, except that I received a second chance in your reality."

Terra sobbed and wiped away a tear.

"Is there a Beast Boy in your universe? One that isn't attached to Raven?"

Kaldur shrugged his shoulders.

"I'm afraid that I have heard of no one with powers like Beast Boy's own in our universe ... but I would like to make you an offer Miss Markov."

"An offer?"

"Yes. If the path back to our universe is discovered … you are welcome to return with us. You will no longer be burdened by your past dealings with Deathstroke and will be able to have a new start. Of course the odds of finding our way home are still very small, but we have not given up hope yet."

Terra nodded her acceptance.

"Thank you Kaldur, I think I will go with you. And you're right, there always is hope."

_**-( scene break )-**_

TT-Robin was sitting at his desk, with Raven at his side. They were preparing a preliminary budget for the Titans next fiscal year, which they always did as they were the most level headed members of the team. They were rushing to finish as they were suppose to leave for Atlantis that afternoon with their teammates. Raven was studying one of the pages in the proposed budget.

"Cyborg wants 20% more for his tech budget? And just from where is that money supposed to come?"

"Let's give him 10%." Robin replied.

"No, he plays the same game every year. He asks for an outlandish increase and we end up giving him a smaller, but still very large raise to his budget and then we have to scrounge getting it from somewhere else. The general budget was only increased 4% this year and there are many other things that have been neglected over the years because he always takes the lion's share of any new money."

"So what are you proposing Raven?"

The sorceress grabbed a red pen and crossed out Cyborg's requested increase, replacing it with a huge zero.

"He gets nothing extra. Have you taken a look at the carpeting in the Tower lately?"

"Uh … no … why?"

Raven rolled her eyes.

"It's threadbare in some places. We have over 3000 square yards of commercial grade carpeting that needs to be replaced. Do you have any idea of how much that's going to cost Robin?"

"Let me guess … a lot?"

"Over $100,000 Robin, which is why Cyborg won't get any extra money to buy toys this year." She answered defiantly.

"I'm sure he'll understand Raven, but would you mind breaking the bad news to him?"

"I'll be glad to do so." She replied in her monotone.

Robin chuckled internally as Raven flipped to the next page in the budget. She had changed in so many ways since the day they met and yet she remained the same Raven he had grown to love. As he continued to ponder how his "sister" had changed over the years, mostly for the best the console in his office beeped, signaling an incoming call. He pressed a button and Batman's face appeared on the screen.

"Raven, Robin, nice to see you."

"Batman." They replied tersely.

"What can we do for you?" Raven asked.

"Thanks for your offer, Raven. I was just calling to congratulate you on a job well done."

"Beast Boy and I let Slade get away." Raven droned in her monotone.

"That was unfortunate. You were both injured at the time, so it couldn't be helped. But you worked well with our trainees and accomplished what we were unable to do. The nation owes your teams a great debt and its gratitude."

"Thanks." Robin replied while Raven sat impassively, her face betraying no expression.

"I also want to invite the Titans to stay with us in the Justice League submarine during the wedding. It's quite spacious and you'll all have real staterooms during the trip. I know you have your own submarine, but we'd be honored if you stayed with us."

"Thanks Batman, we accept." Robin replied.

"Very well, we'll be by to pick you up this afternoon. Batman out."

Batman's image was replaced by the Titan's logo on the screen.

"Well, that was unexpected." Raven announced in her deadpan, gravelly voice.

_**-( scene break )-**_

Cyborg finished setting up his array of sensor dishes and antennae and was typing furiously on a portable console he brought into the hanger. The white ovoid stood silently, parked next to the T-Ship.

"OK Megan, I'm ready."

Miss Martian nodded at the tin man and closed her eyes, searching for her bioship's collective mind. Cyborg watched her focus for a moment before her expression changed and she smiled. He watched breathlessly as the ovoid began to morph and adopted the elegant shape of a Martian space craft.

"Beginning external diagnostics." He announced in a self absorbed voice as his eyes remained glued to the screen.

"Memory core is online … commencing download." He added in an uncharacteristic for him monotone.

He tapped a few more keys and finally relaxed, leaning back in his chair. "Memory core analysis is running."

"How does it look Cyborg?" She asked.

"The diagnostics look good. Once they're done and we've completed the core download and analysis you should be able to begin your own diagnostics."

"I hope the memory core isn't corrupted." She added. "We'd have to wipe it clean and the bioship would lose all of its memories. I would have to retrain it from scratch. In fact, I would have to reintroduce myself to the bioship, it would have no memory of me."

Cyborg glanced at the console.

"So far so good, it's only 20% complete but so far there are no signs of memory corruption."

The tin man noticed the worried look on her face.

"So how are things between you and Superboy?"

M'Gann's face brightened at the question.

"I asked Raven for advice the other day …"

"Whoa! You asked Raven for advice about guys? Our Raven? Why didn't you ask Starfire? I mean, that's more up her alley."

M'Gann giggled happily.

"Raven knows more than you think, and it was Starfire who suggested I consult with her."

Cyborg gave her a skeptical look.

"Connor and I went out to lunch with her and Beast Boy."

"That sounds like a barrel of fun. So how long was it until Raven and Superboy were at each other's necks?"

She shook her head and smiled.

"It wasn't like that at all. Beast Boy was such a gentleman with Raven. He did all those old fashioned things I've seen on the old black and white TV shows. He opened the car door for her, took her arm in his, he bought her flowers. He was so attentive, Raven actually … smiled."

"What? You're saying the grass … I mean BB … did all that?"

M'Gann nodded enthusiastically.

"And the next day, Connor brought me flowers! They made me sneeze as we Martians aren't used to earth pollens, but they were so pretty."

Cyborg was grinning by this point.

"So what did you do?"

She began to blush.

"I … I kissed him!"

"Alriiiight! That's my girl!"

M'Gann's blush intensified but before she could say anything else she was interrupted by a loud alarm from the console.

"Cyborg, is something wrong with the bioship?"

His fingers flew across the keyboard.

"It's the memory core."

Her face fell.

"It's corrupt, right?"

"No, that's not it." He replied as he continued to type. He frowned as a hex dump appeared on the screen.

"Hang on. I'm gonna run this through a filter."

His fingers continued to dance on the oversized keyboard.

"No way. I don't believe it!"

"What is it Cyborg? What's wrong with the bioship?"

Cyborg was grinning at the point.

"The memory core has the complete log of your trip to our universe, including the exit vector from the wormhole."

Megan shook her head.

"What does that mean?"

"I'll have to start a reverse iterative extrapolation, and it'll take a few days to complete, but once it's done …"

He paused to catch his breath.

".. then you guys can go home."

_**-( scene break )-**_

Before you guys pop a champagne cork, there's Kaldur and Tula to worry about. Will Tula marry him and go back with him? Will Kaldur hook up with Terra instead?

I know … I'm evil! But you'll only have to wait a day to find out what happens next!


	28. Aqualad and Tula

"Take off your mask." The sultry voice purred between kisses.

"My mask?" He replied.

"Yes, I want to see your eyes while we do the making out."

"Are you sure?"

"I am positive. If you do not remove it I will cease with the kissing."

He grinned before kissing her lusciously on the lips.

"You're bluffing."

"I … am … not." She replied between smooches. "And the French kissing … it will be no more."

That got his attention. Her alien tongue was without equal. He thought it was better than sex. Of course he was only guessing, as he was still a virgin.

"But Star … it's supposed to be a secret …" He murmured back to her.

"Batgirl has seen you without a mask, am I correct?"

He pulled back from her.

"That's different … I was younger back then."

The Tamaranian turned her head partially and looked at him through the corners of her eyes as she smiled provocatively. Robin felt his heart rate increase, and swallowed hard. Starfire often acted naïve and demure, but when needed she could bring out the big guns. Robin felt his heart melt and his willpower wither. She then stood up and began to walk away.

"If you will not show me your eyes … perhaps he will." She announced as she sauntered towards her bedroom door. "I will invite him to join me here."

"Star!" Robin protested. "He's just a kid! You'd be … I mean … that's pedophilia!"

"He is you, and will be an acceptable substitute. It will be interesting to compare who is the better one at the kissing …"

"OK … you win." He grumbled as he peeled off his mask.

Starfire rewarded him with smile as she turned around and walked back to him. She caressed his face before pulling him into a very deep kiss. Her tongue penetrated his mouth and he felt his knees get rubbery and had he to summon all his willpower to not fall down. After what felt like an exquisite eternity she pulled away, smiling at him.

"Thank you my beloved, your blue eyes are too beautiful to hide behind a mask. And now I shall reward you my precious, as they say here on Earth, for your eyes only."

Robin's spiky hair appeared to be electrified as Starfire began to remove her top.

That was when the Tower's alarm went off. Cyborg's voice echoed over the PA system.

"Everyone report to the common room. This is not a drill. I repeat, everyone report to the common room."

Starfire giggled as she pulled her top back down.

"Perhaps another time, my beloved." She purred.

Robin almost forgot to grab his mask as they ran out of the room, and had to go back and get it. He hastily slapped it on as they ran into the hallway.

_**-( scene break )-**_

Cyborg and M'Gann watched as everyone came running in. Kid Flash and Artemis were the first ones to arrive since they were already in the common room, having a fairly innocent "moment" on the Titans' signature crescent shaped couch. Superboy and YJ-Robin arrived next, quickly followed by Kaldur and Tula. Robin and Starfire came charging in next. Cyborg grinned when he saw a hickey on the Boy Wonder's neck. Raven and Beast Boy arrived last, phasing out of floor as Raven's signature black hemisphere melted away. Cyborg immediately noticed that the Changeling was missing a sock on his left foot. A quick scan with his infrared eye confirmed that they were … well … never mind.

"Sorry about the alarm gang, but there's no emergency."

"What!" Raven howled. "You said this wasn't a drill! We dropped everything to get here right away!"

_You sure did Raven, you naughty girl_. Cyborg grinned inwardly.

"There's no emergency, but I have some very important news."

"Dude, it'd better be important."

_Oh settle down grass stain, you'll have plenty of time to go back to your room and finish playing patty cake with Raven._ Cyborg almost laughed at the mental image of the two hastily getting dressed. He could see Beast Boy searching for his stray sock while Raven yelled at him to hurry up.

"It's really important B!" Cyborg answered. "I have some very good news for the Young Justice League."

Cyborg paused as he took in the looks on the visiting heroes faces. He could see the expression of befuddlement on them. They didn't have a clue.

"What is this news Cyborg? Does it concern the Justice League?" Kaldur asked.

Cyborg turned to Miss Martian and smiled.

"Go ahead Megan, you tell them."

She swallowed hard as she tried to calm herself, and after a pregnant pause she began.

"Cyborg was helping me run diagnostics on the bioship, and he was able to bring the memory core back online. The core's contents are intact and Cyborg found some information that he's fed into a computer. Once the calculations are finalized, and they will take a few days to complete, the path back to our universe will be known. We're going home!"

The common room erupted into raucous cheering. The Titans and YJs hugged and high fived each other.

Everyone that is, except for Kaldur and Tula.

Raven elbowed Beast Boy, who had just finished hugging M'Gann. Once she had his attention she nodded towards the Atlantean couple.

"Oh crud." He muttered to his mate.

"Oh crud indeed." She replied.

The others began to notice that Kaldur and Tula had not joined in the celebration.

"Uh, this isn't gonna be a problem for you guys, right?" Cyborg asked, knowing full well the implication of the situation.

Tula drew close to Kaldur, taking his hand in her own.

"I already said that if it came down to this that I would return with Kaldur to the other universe."

Kaldur bit his lip. He could still recall that evening in Atlantis at Tula's house. Her mother was so happy he had "returned" even though they all knew that wasn't what actually happened. Their Kaldur was dead and he wasn't coming back. Kaldur had felt it in the pit of his stomach, he was a counterfeit in their universe, a "close enough for all practical purposes" but he wasn't the real thing. This news was proof of that. He had not forgotten what they said, but he knew that had been said carelessly, as no one really believed it would ever happen. But it did happen, and that changed everything. He knew he couldn't take her away, as much as he wanted to stay with her.

There was an option: he could stay. From his perspective he was home. A woman who was identical to his mother was here. He would fit in just fine. But he knew where his duty was. He knew what he had to do.

"But Tula … your parents … I cannot take you away from them. I know what they said, that you could leave with me, but that would be wrong. They would never see you again …"

"Actually, they can visit you in your dimension. Portals can be opened periodically at irregular intervals." Raven interrupted. "She will not lose all contact with her family."

"How irregular, Raven?"He asked.

"It varies. It can be anywhere between once every few days and every few years. Once Cyborg has the dimensional coordinates we can then calculate when the crossover windows will be open."

Upon hearing this, the mood in the room picked itself back up again. The happy bantering resumed and Raven wandered off to discuss the findings with Cyborg. Beast Boy walked around, individually congratulating the Young Justice members, joining them in playful discussion. Tula and Kaldur embraced, and the cheering returned.

It was then that he saw her, sitting alone on the far side of the room. She had a devastated look on her face, as if something unexpected and earth shattering had happened to her. It reminded him of how people looked when there was a death in the family: not necessarily a surprise but clearly not anticipated nor expected. He excused himself and walked off in her direction.

Raven was speaking with Cyborg when saw Beast Boy approach Terra. Her attention was redirected away from the tin man who continued to babble as she shut him out. She watched as they began to talk. Terra look troubled as they exchanged words. At first he looked surprised but his expression changed to one of concern. Terra then began to cry and buried her face in his chest, wrapping her arms around him.

Raven frowned as she watched the scene unfold, not understanding what exactly was happening. Unaware, she clenched her fists while she continued to watch. Beast Boy's arms were also wrapped around Terra, and he was caressing her back in a vain attempt to soothe her as she continued to sob. They continued to talk, and the changeling caressed her face while he said something to her.

Terra then locked lips with Beast Boy, and it was evident he was not expecting the gesture. She turned around and bolted away, no longer able to keep her water works under control as she ran out of the common room.

Raven was seething and without thinking she prepared to give chase to the blond earth bender, ready to confront her. Before she had taken two steps she felt a heavy hand on her shoulder, which of course belonged to Cyborg.

"It's not what you think, Raven."

Raven scowled at her Cybernetic friend.

"Then what is it?" She growled. "Why can't she leave him alone? He's mine, dammit!"

"Chill out girl! I overheard them with my electronic ear. She was saying good bye, she's leaving."

Raven reacted to the news with skepticism.

"She's leaving? Where is she going? There isn't any place in the world that's far enough from him."

"Miss Markov will be returning with us, Raven." Kaldur joined the conversation. "I invited her to return with us, should the opportunity arise. She accepted with the hope of starting over in a world where she is not a former villain."

"You did that … for her?" Raven asked, clearly amazed. "You do understand who she is?"

"Perfectly. Miss Markov has made many mistakes. I believe that she is ready and willing to start over in a world where she does not have a past history with Deathstroke. I am willing to take that chance with her."

Raven was overwhelmed by what she had just heard.

"Maybe you're right, perhaps a fresh start is what Terra needs … actually … it's what we need ... what I need." She replied in an atypical emotional voice.

Cyborg patted her on the shoulder.

"I know it hasn't been easy for you having her around. I think this will work out for the best." He added.

Raven looked away from him.

"We demons are very … possessive … when it comes to our mates. It's not something I'm proud of, but he's mine and I'll be damned if I'm gonna let any woman get close to him like that."

Kaldur gave her a warm smile.

"I understand your concerns Raven. She will trouble you no more once we leave."

Raven looked up at the tall Atlantean.

"Thank you Kaldur, you have given me a wonderful gift."

Raven was interrupted by TT-Robin, who tapped on a microphone to get everyone's attention.

"The Justice League submarine just arrived. Everyone go grab whatever you're taking to the wedding and meet us at the dock."

_**-( scene break )-**_

Kaldur stood by himself in the forward room of the sleek new submarine. The room had huge windows made out of transparent titanium, which afforded a spectacular view of Atlantis which was now directly below them. The sub had begun its final five as it slowly spiraled around the glowing underwater city. And he could already see from his lofty perch that preparations for tomorrow's ceremony were already underway. Aquaman had gone all out and invited nearly the entire city. Such extravagance was unheard of, at least for a commoner such as himself. And while he felt gratitude he was nervous.

The voyage from Titan's Tower to the underwater kingdom had gone without incident. The Titans had mostly stayed in their rooms while his own team was just the opposite: out and about. It was late in the evening and everyone had retired to their quarters, including Tula. Tomorrow they would be wed and on their honeymoon. It had been decided that they would remain in Atlantis until the time to return home arrived.

His train of thought was interrupted by the sound of the doors swishing open. He could see the arrival's reflection in the highly polished window.

"Good evening Kaldur'ahm."

He turned around to greet his late night guest.

"Good evening Batman."

The Dark Knight approached him until they were face to face.

"Having trouble sleeping?"

"Yes sir, I am."

"Perfectly understandable. I also just heard the other good news; I still need to congratulate Cyborg. He did some great work."

Kaldur nodded.

"The Titans have exceeded my expectations. They are a very mature and competent team."

"They are. I should give them more credit."

"And perhaps an official invitation to join the League?"

"Already done. I just dropped off the paper work with Robin." Batman chuckled. "Unfortunately the Princess was with him and I interrupted them."

Kaldur gazed back out the window and saw that they were now close to landing.

"I apologize Batman, for we did not complete our training."

Batman picked up a piece of red coral that was on display in the room and examined it before putting it back on its display.

"You proved yourselves when you took on Deathstroke. Your training is complete and you are now full members of the League."

"Unfortunately, that promotion is not binding back in our universe. We will once again be … sidekicks."

Batman chuckled.

"Maybe I could write a note."

_**-( scene break )-**_

Cyborg and Raven waited patiently as the laser printer began to warm up, making its telltale sounds that it was preparing to produce a printout.

A week had passed since the underwater wedding, which had been a grand affair. In Kaldur's absence YJ-Robin reassumed his role as team leader. As Cyborg had predicted, the calculations were complete and included the times when transdimensional crossing would be possible. Because the dimensions were 'parallel' crossings were restricted to times when the quantum harmonics of the two realities would be in sync. Cyborg handed the crossing charts to Raven, who arched an eyebrow as she studied them.

"They can go home next month." He announced.

"And if they don't they'll have to wait 41 more months." She added.

"That is a big gap. After that we can cross once every month or two for the next few years."

Raven grinned.

"So Terra will be gone for over three years. Works for me."

_**-( scene break )-**_

The next chapter is the finale. I promise it will be better than this chapter.

Also: The first Teen Titans Chibi short is coming this Saturday on Cartoon Network. It should be shown at either 10:30AM ET (Between the Green Lantern and Young Justice episodes) or at 11 AM ET right after Young Justice ends. It will also be shown at those same times, but Pacific Time on Cartoon Network West. From the teaser it looks like they will be facing Dr. Light. Also. I will emphasize the word "short". The claymation Batman and cartoon Plastic Man shorts shown last Saturday felt very short, 1 minute tops. Here's hoping that the Titans short will be longer.


	29. A Surprise in Happy Harbor

It was a beautiful day for a picnic. There wasn't a cloud in the sky and the temperature was ideal. A gentle breeze blew off from the bay, its briny smell lingered in the air along the shoreline. The Tower stood high above everyone, almost watching with envy as the large group gathered in its presence, helping themselves to fried chicken, bratwursts and hamburgers which they complemented with generous helpings of potato salad, coleslaw, corn on the cob and other goodies.

The YJs mingled with all of the guests who had been invited. The Titans East were present, as well as many of the honorary Titans as well: Kole, Jericho, Pantha, The Herald, Bushido, Hot Spot, Argyle and Red Star to name a few.

The mentors were present too: Aquaman, Superman, Batman, The Flash, The Green Arrow and the Martian Manhunter. Supergirl was present as was her bustier transdimensional twin Power Girl, who was flirting shamelessly with Connor while M'Gann stood next to Raven, looking mortified. Raven, being Raven, looked peeved as she noticed that Beast Boy kept glancing at Power Girl's ample mammaries, as were many of the other young men present.

"Is that the only thing boys care about?" She complained as she elbowed Beast Boy. "Or are mine too small for you?"

Before the changeling could think of a safe reply, Cyborg stepped in.

"No, we do care about other things, but big ones sure do help." He guffawed.

Raven gave him one of her best death glares and after checking his built in sensors Cyborg verified that the temperature in his vicinity had actually dropped over 10 degrees.

"I'd … better go check on the burgers." He laughed nervously as he retreated. "I don't want to overcook them."

Raven shook her head as Beast Boy handed her a peace offering: a bowl of fruit salad, which she graciously accepted as TT-Robin turn on the microphone he was holding in his hand. He tapped on it to verify that it was alive. He cleared his throat as he unfolded a sheet of paper, which contained a speech he had prepared.

"It was almost six months ago when Miss Martian's disabled bioship crash landed here in Jump City. We were just as surprised as they were when we first met on that fateful day. A lot has happened since then. We went on missions together, we were briefly separated, we had a falling out with the Justice League and we later reconciled and even joined the League."

He paused.

"Who would of that was going to happen?" He asked in a humorous tone, drawing a few snickers from the crowd.

"We also fought shoulder to shoulder and stopped Slade's attempt to take over the country and to top it all off some of us became couples and even married … I guess the only thing we didn't do was win the Super Bowl."

A few more chuckles echoed throughout the crowd.

"But now, as Andrea Bocelli would say, it's time to say goodbye. Kaldur, I'm honored to have met you and your team, and I'm proud that our teams came together to beat Slade. It will be strange to part after all our teams have done together and I have a promise to make: 41 months from now, when our two universes align as they are today we will come visit you and your team in your universe. Godspeed on your voyage. I know you'll wow them back home."

A round of applause was heard as Robin concluded his farewell to the Young Justice team. He handed the microphone to Kaldur who took his turn to address the crowd.

"I am not a man of many words, but I will say that I am glad to have come to this universe, even though it was unintentional. Much good has come from this experience as our team had matured and I return home wed to the lovely Tula. We thank you for your friendship and hospitality and we are looking forward to receiving you in our home in 41 months. It will feel like an eternity but I am already looking forward to that day."

More applause followed Kaldur's brief speech and the two teams exchanged hugs and farewells, which lasted a great deal of time. As Raven wrapped up saying goodbye to Connor she sensed a familiar presence behind her. She turned around and found herself face to face with the blond geomancer.

"Raven"

"Terra"

"I guess this is it. You win, he's yours."

Raven nodded her acknowledgement.

"Thanks for admitting that, Terra. I wish you well with the Young Justice League."

Raven noticed that Terra was shedding a few tears.

"Raven, promise me you'll be good to him, that you'll be a good wife…"

"There's no guarantee that will happen Terra …"

"Oh please, like he's gonna walk away at the end of your trial marriage."

"I take nothing for granted Terra, especially not him."

"Well, you are the smart Titan after all, but you really have nothing to worry about … Raven … would you mind if I said goodbye to him?"

Raven carefully considered her request before answering.

"Ok, but under my conditions. You can kiss him goodbye, but if you French him, you're dead. And watch your hands."

"Don't worry, I'll behave."

Terra walked over to Beast Boy, who was chatting with YJ-Robin. The younger Boy Wonder excused himself and left the two alone. Raven tried to blend into the crowd, but kept her eyes on them.

Terra and Beast Boy hugged and held each other silently as Raven watched clandestinely. They exchanged words, which Raven couldn't hear above the din of the crowd. After a few minutes they shared a chaste kiss, after which they separated. Terra then walked straight to M'Gann's bioship and boarded. She turned and faced him one last time, and Raven saw the words 'I love you' form on her lips before she disappeared inside the ship.

The others saw Terra and took that as their cue to board the bioship as well. As they boarded one by one they waved farewell. First it was Robin, who made a point of waving goodbye to Raven and Beast Boy. Super Boy and M'Gann were next, and Power Girl hollered a goodbye to Connor. Next it was Kid Flash and Artemis, who held hands as they waved goodbye. The last to board were Kaldur and Tula. TT-Robin gestured a virtual tip of the hat to them and they too vanished into the bioship, closing the hatch behind them.

The ship levitated silently while Raven and The Herald emerged from the crowd. Her eyes glowed back as she chanted her signature mantra.

"Azarath, Metrion, Zinthos!"

A dark portal appeared, hanging in the air. It was too small for the ship to pass through and the Herald raised his trumpet to his lips and blew. The sound that came out was literally absorbed by the portal, which swelled and grew in size. Raven waved at the bioship and M'Gann waved back before moving the ship forward. It passed through the portal and disappeared, after which the portal collapsed.

The crowd fell silent and remained that way for what felt like an eternity, as the reality sank in. There were a few murmurs and the crowd began to disburse as some began to leave. Raven felt a gloved hand take her own and squeeze it.

"I can't believe they're really gone." Beast Boy said breathlessly.

"I know, neither can I. We'll get to see them in three and a half years. Right now that seems … so far away." She replied.

Starfire began to blubber, and Robin tried his best to console her.

"You guys can go back inside. I'll clean up out here." Cyborg volunteered.

As the two couples retreated into the Tower, Beast Boy wrapped an arm around his sweetheart's shoulders and pulled her close to him. She complied and even rested her head on his shoulder, which she could now do as he was finally taller than her.

"Gar?" She asked him.

"Yeah Rae?"

"When the courtship is over … will you … what I mean to say is … will you want to become … permanent?"

He pecked her on the cheek.

"Do you even have to ask?"

_**-( scene break )-**_

Alfred was alone in the Batcave, doing his usual dusting and tidying up; Bruce was upstairs, entertaining Veronica Vreeland, who in spite of multiple glamorous and failed marriages had yet to give up on Bruce. She of course was a dear friend of his, and they often spent time together. Alfred was also fond of Miss Vreeland and figured that it wouldn't hurt Master Bruce to become more intimate with his longtime friend. Alfred even speculated that were she and Bruce to tie the knot that he might be able to move beyond the Dark Knight and become a normal human being.

Alfred knew that it was a pipe dream of course, but he withdrew to the Batcave, leaving the two friends alone with the vain hope that maybe some magic would happen.

As Wayne's faithful majordomo continued to tidy up the main console began to beep. Alfred trotted over and turned on the giant screen above it. To his surprise it was the giant portal at the LaGrange point and it was active. When he saw the bioship emerge from it he dropped the tray he was carrying and ran back up into the manor, desperately trying to think of a way to gently let Miss Vreeland down.

_**-(Scene break )-**_

A large cruiser was approaching the jump portal. Its captain was taking it from Earth to a new system, Tamaran, that had been discovered and his crew's mission was to make first contact with a society that was rumored to be fierce and war like. He was deep in thought as he wanted everything to go right, and he almost didn't notice that the portal came to life prematurely. The lights began to flash and the void inside the circle became fluid like, rippling like water. He was experienced enough to know what meant: A ship was about to exit the portal.

"Helm! Evasive maneuvers! Now!" He shouted as he continued to watch the jump portal. This of course wasn't supposed to happen as the Jump Portal Authority rigorously managed the use of the portals and always knew when they were being used, in order to prevent accidents like the one that almost occurred. Someone had dropped the ball and there would be hell to pay, his report would make sure of that.

As the heavy cruiser leaned out of the exit flight path a small ship emerged and the captain saw it on his monitors.

"Well I'll be damned." He said to himself before turning to his communications officer.

"Send a message to the Justice League …"

_**-( scene break )-**_

"Is that our Earth?" Superboy asked M'Gann as they flew by in low orbit.

"It is." She confirmed. "I've already prepared a flight path to Happy Harbor. We're home guys, we really are."

As it began to descend the ship's cabin erupted into cheers and hooting as they high fived and hugged each other, except for Terra who sat quietly in the back. Kaldur noticed and turned to face the blond.

"I understand your sorrow over leaving him behind Terra, but you made the right decision. If it is any consolation you are now a member of our team, our family. You are not alone friend."

Terra gave him a weak smile as she saw Happy Harbor far below as the ship continued its descent.

"Thanks Kaldur, I really do appreciate what you have done for me." She then chuckled half heartedly. "Maybe I'll meet a cute guy who'll help me forget about BB."

"You probably will, even though I suspect you will never forget about him."

Terra nodded and looking up again she saw that they were now approaching a small mountain. She could sense the excitement in her teammates who could no longer sit still in their seats.

A tunnel opened and the bioship glided into the bowels of the mountain, landing with the finesse of a feather. There were seven superheroes waiting in the hangar where they touched down: Batman, Superman, Green Arrow, Flash, Martian Manhunter, Aquaman and Red Tornado.

The ship's hatch popped open and the eight junior heroes emerged. Batman stepped forward.

"Welcome home Young Justice. You were able to find your way back. Well done and congratulations."

The six original members went up to their mentors. Kaldur approached Aquaman and bowed.

"It is good to be home my King."

The senior Atlantean wrapped his arms around the young man and hugged him as Tula cautiously approached. Aquaman smiled.

"I see you brought someone back, Kaldur'ahm."

"Introductions are not needed Aquaman. Tula and I were wed in the other universe …"

"And we didn't get to attend! You realize what this means?"

The couple swallowed hard.

"No sir, I do not."

Aquaman laughed.

"You're going to have to get married again!"

He locked eyes with the female.

"So now we have two Tulas. I guess you can't have too much of a good thing, right Aquagirl?"

Tula bowed politely.

"If you say so my King."

"Enough with the formalities, come here!"

As Aquaman hugged Tula, the other Young Justices were greeted by their mentors. Batman and Robin shook hands and exchanged a brief hug, as did Flash and Kid Flash. Ollie and Artemis also hugged and he pecked her on the cheek. The two Martians exchanged a telepathic reunion.

Superboy became airborne and flew towards Kal-El landing in front of him.

"I see you have mastered flight during your absence."

"Yes, your counterpart trained me." Connor replied.

"Who?"

"We were in a parallel universe and there was a counterpart of you there."

"So you're saying that a copy of me trained you?"

"Yes, he took me in for a few months and I was trained by him and Supergirl."

Superman looked troubled.

"Did you tell him about your origin?"

"I did, he said it didn't matter that I was a clandestine clone. He treated me like I was his son … of course Kara treated me like a kid brother, even though technically I am her cousin … "

Clark lowered his head.

"I am sorry Kon, for the way I have treated you, and am in fact ashamed. You have to understand, it bothered me at first that someone took my DNA and created you without my permission, but I have been a fool. It doesn't matter how you were created, you are my son and you are always welcome in my home, correction, our home in Metropolis."

As the two Kryptonians embraced Batman approached Terra, who stood quietly at the back of the crowd.

"I believe that an introduction is in order, Miss?"

"Markov, Terra Markov." She replied.

"Do you have any powers Miss Markov?"

"Yes sir, I am a geomancer, an earth bender."

"I see … tell me Miss Markov … have we ever met before? Your body language says we have."

Kaldur approached Batman.

"Miss Markov was once a member of a team of young superheroes in the other universe called the Teen Titans. She has left that group for personal reasons and I invited her to join our team."

Batman nodded.

"Before I allow you to join the team, would you mind telling me what these personal reasons are, Miss Markov?"

Terra decided to come clean. She would tell him everything, including how she betrayed the Titans. Before she could speak Kaldur continued.

"Miss Markov has been a recurring target of Deathstroke the Terminator, who is obsessed with her. He has even inserted neural implants into her body to control her and force her to be his apprentice, more than once in fact. She also leaves behind a failed romance, and I offered her the chance to join us here and to start over without Deathstroke accosting her. From what I observed and was told by the Titans she is a woman of good character who needs to get away from Deathstroke."

Batman rubbed his chin before gesturing to his fellow senior Justice Leaguers. They withdrew to the far side of the room, where they conferred for a few minutes. Once they were done they walked back to where the Young Justice team was still waiting. Superman addressed them.

"It appears that the Young Justice League will have 4 new members." He announced.

"Four?" Robin asked. "We only brought two people back with us."

"After your prolonged absence we worried that you might never return and decided to start rebuilding the team. We found two young heroes who were interested in joining the group. One is new to the hero scene and the other was a member of a rather secretive group which he left a few years ago, so you won't be familiar with them. Red Tornado, would you mind showing them in?"

The red robot complied and left the room. He returned two minutes later, with the new members who were at his side.

"What the …" Kid Flash croaked.

"No freaking way!" Robin shrieked.

_**-( scene break )-**_

_41 months later …_

"Hurry up! They're gonna be here soon!" Artemis howled as she helped Terra set up the buffet table.

"What if they don't come?" Wally asked, as he brought platters of food from the kitchen, zooming in and out of the room.

"They will, they said they would."

"Well, if they don't, I call dibs on their share of the grub."

"Wallace West!" She growled at him. "Sometimes I wonder why I married you!"

Wally dashed to her side, caressed her swollen midsection and gave her a quick kiss before zooming off to the kitchen again.

Terra was a little slower setting up the table as she had a toddler clinging to her leg, demanding that she be picked up. Tula showed up, carrying an infant in her arms.

"Come with me Coraline, your mother is busy." She cajoled the blond child.

"It's OK Tula; you have two of your own to look after."

"I will take her to Kaldur; he can watch her along with our first born."

Terra laughed.

"You're setting a bad example. Mark is already talking about #2."

Before Tula could pick Coraline up a dark circle began to form in the air and began to grow.

"They're here!" M'Gann shouted as she and her mate, Kon had just finished setting up another table.

Robin grabbed a girl's hand.

"You hide here, then we'll surprise them."

"Is this really necessary Dick?" She complained in mildly annoyed voice.

"Trust me; it'll be totally worth it!"

"Mark! Where are you?" Terra shouted. "They're almost here!"

"Coming!" He shouted as he ran through the door into the large meeting room, carrying two bags of ice.

The portal grew until it was 8 feet in diameter. The assembled team waited breathlessly, not sure of what would happen next.

Cyborg was the first to emerge.

"Booyah!" He shouted joyfully as he dropped his suitcase on the floor and raised his arms in victory.

He was quickly followed by a masked man in a dark spandex outfit with blue wings on his chest and he was accompanied by Starfire who was carrying an infant in her arms. She wore what appeared to be some sort of alien armor. Robin stepped forward.

"Dick, is that you?" He asked.

"You can call Nightwing, kid."

"Kid? I'm 16 now! I even have a girlfriend!"

"Well it's about time." Nightwing chortled back.

The last two to emerge from the portal were Raven and Beast Boy. He was carrying a toddler in his arms. Both sported new costumes. Beast Boy was wearing a short sleeved green and purple costume that highlighted his new musculature. Raven wore a white version of her leotard and cape, which also highlighted her more mature curves.

"Looking good Beast Boy!" M'Gann shouted.

"His hero name now is Changeling." Raven announced in her monotone as he handed their daughter back to her. The portal behind them vanished.

The two teams began to mingle and greet each other. Robin approached the Logans first. After exchanging handshakes and hugs, and meeting their shy little girl, whose name was also Coraline, he could no longer contain himself.

"Guys, I want you to meet my girlfriend! Babe! You can come out now."

Changeling's and Raven's eyes became wide as saucers as the young girl, who was also 16 years old, entered the room. The other 3 Titans also saw her and became slack jawed.

"I've told you I don't like being called 'babe'; I have a name in case you've forgotten it." She complained in a gravelly monotone.

Beast Boy and Raven approached the girl, their mouths agape. She calmly reached out and gently lifted their chins, closing their pie holes.

"Garfield, Raven, welcome to Mt. Justice. I see that you completed the courtship and wed. Congratulations."

"Raven?" Beast Boy asked incredulously.

"That's right." She replied as she locked eyes with her older twin. "You have a lovely daughter."

Changeling shook his head. "Dudes! Are you really a couple?"

Robin and YJ-Raven took each other's hand and shared a chaste kiss.

"We are." She replied. "And we are considering entering into the Courtship rite."

"No … way … that is so wrong." Gar said in an slow, incredulous voice.

"The feeling is mutual, as I find your own pairing up to be unsettling. But I trust we will all get used to it." YJ-Raven replied.

TT-Raven shook her head. "I'm not so sure of that."

Robin snickered as he pulled two chairs out.

"You guys better sit down, you haven't seen anything yet. And you sure are a cutie, Coraline!"

The green skinned, violet haired toddler buried her face in her mother's shoulder, her shyness getting the best of her.

"It's your turn Terra." He shouted.

Terra emerged from the crowd, carrying her own daughter. The Logan's faces fell when they saw the blond haired … and green skinned girl. At first they didn't even notice the man who was standing next to Terra. TT-Raven was the first to look at him and she went bug eyed. She turned to her side, to verify that her husband was still sitting next to her, which he was. To her surprise he stood up with a grin and the two changelings shook hands.

"BB, this is my husband, Mark." Terra introduced them.

"She insisted on calling me by our middle name." He announced. "Dude, I have so been looking forward to this day!"

Raven stood up and carefully examined Terra's husband.

"They're … identical."

Terra snickered.

"What can I say? We have excellent taste in men, wouldn't you agree Mrs. Logan?"

Still recovering from her shock, TT-Raven replied. "I guess there is no arguing with that, Mrs. Logan."

Starfire and Nightwing also congratulated Robin and YJ-Raven before mingling with the others. Cyborg was standing alone, chowing down on some food. Robin and Raven approached him.

"Are you OK Cyborg?" He asked.

"I'm fine, I figured that I'd let the couples socialize first. By the way, these are good ribs." He replied as he put his plate down and extended his hand to YJ-Raven.

"Nice to see you again little lady … wait … that doesn't make any sense to you, does it?"

"It makes perfect sense to me, Cyborg. I know that she used to be like me."

"I guess it does." The tin man concluded.

Robin grinned at him.

"So what do you think Cyborg? Over 3 years have passed. Have we all changed for the best?"

Cyborg crossed his arms as he gazed at the crowd, who were oohing and ahhing over each other's offspring. He shook his head as he replied.

"That's a lot of babies."

**THE END **


End file.
